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The Yadana Pipeline PDF Print E-mail

The Yadana Gas Project in military-ruled Burma is one of the world’s most controversial natural gas development projects. Transporting gas through a pipeline from Burma’s Andaman Sea to Thailand, the project is operated by Total (France), Chevron (US), PTTEP (Thailand), and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). Since the project’s beginnings in the early 1990s, it has been marred by serious and widespread human rights abuses committed by pipeline security forces on behalf of the companies, including forced labor, land confiscation, forced relocation, rape, torture, murder. Many of these abuses continue today.

On this page you will find links to all of ERI’s reports related to past and present earth rights abuses along the Yadana Pipeline; links to information about the Doe v. Unocal lawsuit against Unocal for serious abuses along the pipeline; ERI reports on forced labor and foreign investment in Burma; ERI communications with Unocal, Chevron, and Total; Statements by Unocal, Chevron, and Total; ERI statements concerning foreign investment and human rights in Burma; ERI submissions to international organizations; ERI submissions to national bodies; and third-party communications with Chevron, Unocal, and Total.

Read more about the background of the Yadana Pipeline > >

Learn more about the Yadana Pipeline:

ERI Reports on the Pipeline:


ERI Reports on Forced Labor and Foreign Investment in Burma:


Communications with Chevron/Unocal:

  • In a September 27, 2007, letter to Chevron CEO Dave O'Reilly, ERI Executive Director Ka Hsaw Wa called on Chevron to use its influence "to help prevent mass bloodshed" as the Burmese military began attacking monks and other peaceful protestors.
  • On July 22, 2005, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka wrote to Chevron CEO Dave O'Reilly noting that acquiring Unocal's stake in the Yadana Project would expose Chevron to significant reputational and legal risks due to the associated human rights abuses. 
  • On August 9, 2005, Trumka followed up with a letter to Chevron's Public Policy Committee Chair Sam Nunn, again expressing concern that "the Yadana pipeline is an unacceptable legal and political risk."

Statements by Unocal/Chevron:

  • While Unocal maintained a substantial website on its operations in Burma (Myanmar), Chevron's website includes virtually no mentions of Burma or the Yadana Project.  Unocal's old website is archived here.
  • Chevron's statements during the September and October, 2007 brutal crackdown against peaceful demonstrators in Burma -- here and here.
   
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Click to view villagers' testimonials
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Click to view pictures of the project

ERI Statements Concerning Foreign Investment and Human Rights in Burma:


Submissions to International Organizations:


Submissions to National Bodies:


Third-Party Communications with Chevron, Unocal, and Total - Letters and Statements:


Chevron Shareholder Meetings: