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Total Chief: Critics Can ‘Go to Hell’

By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, August 4, 2009
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The CEO of the French energy giant Total said critics of the company’s operations in Burma “can go to hell,” according to an interview published by Newsweek magazine on August 3.

“I am bringing gas to Thailand. Bangkok was the world’s most polluted city. They switched from oil fuel to gas. Bangkok is clean now. We are proud of being part of this,” Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total, told the US weekly magazine.

Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total. (Photo: Bullsoil.com)

Thailand pipes about one billion cubic feet of gas per day from Burma’s offshore reserves in the southeastern Andaman Sea through the controversial Yadana gas pipeline, which human rights campaigners say has been a site of widespread abuses since its inception.

Total has been involved in the Yadana project since the 1990s, working in partnership with the US-based Unocal (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron), Burma’s state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Co.

Total and its partners have long been accused of turning a blind eye to serious human rights abuses committed by Burmese security forces guarding the pipeline, including forced labor, land confiscation, forced relocation, rape, torture and murder.

A brutal crackdown on monk-led protests in 2007 and the current trial of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have brought renewed pressure on investors in Burma’s gas and oil sector, the single largest source of hard currency for the ruling regime. Burmese pro-democracy activists say energy companies should think twice about their investments in Burma.

“Today, [rights campaigners] are trying to tell us you have no right to speak. They can go to hell. If you want to ask somebody, don’t ask Total. Ask the government of Thailand, which buys Burmese gas,” de Margerie said.

“Or ask the government of India why they have companies investing in Burma, when we froze investment. Why is South Korea, ally of the United States of America, investing in Burma? Why Total?” he added.

However, de Margerie’s claims that Total has been unfairly singled out ignores actions taken against other major investors in Burma’s energy industry.

Recently, US-based NGO EarthRights International (ERI) filed a 43-page complaint to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) calling for an investigation of the South Korean government’s respect for OECD guidelines.

The complaint, made on behalf of the Shwe Gas Movement and nine Korean-based organizations, is related to investments in Burma by Daewoo International and the Korea Gas Corporation.

Complaining that “Total is a punching bag while other companies invest without criticism is simply untrue,” said ERI project coordinator Matthew Smith, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. 

“He (de Margerie) claims that Total is proud to provide natural gas to Bangkok but at the same time he tries to deflect negative criticism to Thailand. This strategy is consistent with the way Total has handled most of the negative outcry about its presence in Burma: deny and reject any and all negative criticism.

“Total’s project has generated billions of dollars for the military regime from the peoples’ natural resources. It’s dubious at best to claim that is a positive thing for the country,” Smith said.

“Elsewhere Total has touted respect for fiscal transparency but at the same time it has not published the payments it has made to the Burmese regime—that raises serious questions,” he added.



COMMENTS (18)
 
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KKK Wrote:
12/08/2009
Christophe de Margerie:

Une personne qui a fait l'amour avec la mère de quelqu'un.

pLan B Wrote:
12/08/2009
Ouvrier de Saint Denise
I shall write in ENglish if you don't mind. French is my 3rd language. Here are the answers to your 3 questions/assumptions.

1) I am not defending M CM. that you described as a monster. If you will care to read this statement by your president Sarkozy here:
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16534
may be you might like to call Sarkozy
2)"J'ai peut-etre mal juge votre intelligence."
The elected president of France.
3)As for your firm belief in my being ignorant of M CM and the like of him "capitalistes sauvages" I can tell you that at least Total has helped SPDC turn Burma greener by producing enough natural gas for all public transportation.

Globs of profits paying your social services in France. Albeit enriching SPDC enabling hold on to power longer is bad for Burma as well as Turnell.

Then again will you rather see China or N Korea developing the same gas fields?
si vous voulez à la faute quelqu'un ne le fait pas de seulement un point de vue simple.

Ouvrier de Saint Denise Wrote:
11/08/2009
Plan B,

Je ne comprends pas pourquoi vous defendez un tel monstre. J'ai peut-etre mal juge votre intelligence. Enfin, je viens de croire firmament que vous etes aussi ignorant que De Margerie et d'autres capitalistes sauvages de France.

plan B Wrote:
07/08/2009
Ouvrier de Saint Denise

C'est vous qui est le plus grand de tous les ignorants.

M. C n'a rien dit de mal ou de manière incorrecte.

planB Wrote:
07/08/2009
"I would hazard a guess that it is a non-profit making organization, and the benefit it fights for cannot be measured in dollar earnings which from Total go straight to your generals' pockets anyway."
A very bad guess and a "hazard" indeed. See the country lately? Then know that not all of what you think happened is correct.
ERI
http://www.earthrights.org/about_us.html
"Litigate in U.S. courts on behalf of people around the world whose earth rights have been violated by governments and transnational corporations. For earth rights abuses against villagers in Burma, we brought the landmark lawsuit, Doe v. Unocal Corp."
Why in a US court? Where are all the dollars from the settlement?
Non-profit organization? That is just a front for not paying taxes as long as it shows all spending is appropriate.
So where is ERI spending all its ill-gotten dollars?

KKK Wrote:
06/08/2009
Christophe de Margerie:

You look like killer Than Shwe. The only difference is your skin color and moustache. You are a killer.

Ouvrier de Saint Denise Wrote:
06/08/2009
Mon cher De Margerie -

Vous nous avons montre votre ignorance et arrongance typique des capitalistes francais!

Enfin, c'est vous qui allez a l'enfer!!

Moe Aung Wrote:
06/08/2009
plan B,

"Will ERI care to tell us how much of their profit was used to benefit the Burmese?"

I would hazard a guess that it is a non-profit making organization, and the benefit it fights for cannot be measured in dollar earnings which from Total go straight to your generals' pockets anyway.

metanu Wrote:
05/08/2009
Mr de Margerie only cares about the benefits for his company and Thailand. His right hand doesn't want to know what the left is doing. He never takes a look what he left behind.

That's the dark side of progress. That's a business ethic but that's also a shame for the developed world. We must think about that every time we switch on gas or lights.

Truth Wrote:
05/08/2009
Yes, those who must go to the hell are the SPDC and all their supporters, including Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total.

Okkar Wrote:
05/08/2009
Christophe de Margerie, you are my hero!!

Phyo Oo Wrote:
05/08/2009
To Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total—
You go to hell too.

Kyawswar Wrote:
05/08/2009
It is a great shame that greedy businessmen with Singapore and Thai shady bank accounts and evil money-devouring empires are raping the resources of this poor nation, including corporations like TOTAL, DAEWOO-Korea, Singapore, Thai government, India, China Russian state business interests. These businessmen are killing the future of Myanmar.

When premier U Nu was in power,a foreign mining company approached him to do business in Burma and dig up the natural resources. U Nu asked the company advisors,"How long have these resources been underground?" He was told perhaps a few hundred years.U Nu then told all ethically,"Then we must leave it there untouched for next few hundred years, so the next generation of Burmese can enjoy it. How noble Premier U Nu was.

Burmese/ethnic tribe citizens should mobilize to sue these big cut-throat corporations like TOTAL,DAEWOO and middle-men like Tay Za and satanic cronies in Myanmar.

tocharian Wrote:
05/08/2009
To a certain extent, I agree with what de Margerie says. Sanctions only work if they are really water-tight or shall I say gas-tight.

There are so many big business leaks (and pipelines) already, not just with Thailand but also as mentioned with South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and India (not to mention the obvious suspects: China, Hong Kong and North Korea).

It goes both ways, too. Many Chinese businessmen in Burma (not just Tay Za) have ties with banks in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai (or even Canada?) etc. What can Ban Ki Moon do (he is from Soth Korea, so perhaps he should talk to the Daewoo CEO first).

Tom Tun Wrote:
05/08/2009
It is flesh, blood and the bones of Burmese people we are talking about. To help to clean global carbon emissions, Burmese people must bleed, be tortured, lose property, family get destroyed and serve the so-called pipeline as a free force labour. How dare you treat our people and talk to us that way? I am living in the West now, you can go to hell 100 times yourself.

Moe Aung Wrote:
05/08/2009
De Margerie sounds like an old-fashioned capitalist, but he has also taken on the green mantle like many others, and uses the classic excuse of capitalist competition -"if you don't do it Jones will."

plan B Wrote:
05/08/2009
ERI is not unlike Total. Just another foreign organization that enriches itself through litigation and donations. It however did no work that benefits Burmese in any way.
Instead, it profited from the "blanketed sanctions" policy that causes a myriad of misery.

At least Total did bring Burma enough natural gas to be used in almost all public transportation.

ERI only brings more misery through its continuance on present policy without which ERI cannot exist.

Will ERI care to tell us how much of their profit was used to benefit the Burmese?

Yangontha Wrote:
04/08/2009
De Margerie is proud of being part of bringing gas to Thailand, for he forgets himself that he's totally blinded by Than Shwe's gas.











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