PARIS (Reuters), – TotalEnergies, a French energy company, said Friday that it would withdraw from Myanmar due to the dire human rights situation. This is the second Western company to leave the country following a coup last year.

The coup saw Myanmar security forces kill more than 1,400 people, and arrest thousands in an effort to suppress opposition, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. According to the Junta, these figures are disputable.

According to the statement, “The Myanmar situation in terms both of human rights, and more broadly the rule of the law has continued to get worsening since February 2021’s coup, we have had to reassess it and not allow TotalEnergies make a sufficient positive contribution to the country.”

TotalEnergies decided, as an operator as well as shareholder, to begin the contractual process for withdrawing from Yadana and MGTC Myanmar. This will be without financial compensation.”

The junta seized power https://www.reuters.com/article/myanmar-politics-int-idUSKBN2A11W6 alleging widespread fraud in a November 2020 election won by a landslide by the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Both international and local monitoring organizations confirmed that there was no significant irregularity in the voting process.

Total Energies didn’t quantify the financial effect of the withdrawal but stated that the country was a small part of its revenue.

“Financial considerations in this matter have not been critical.” A spokesperson for TotalEnergies stated that our operations in Myanmar were $105million in 2021. This is less than 1% of the company’s total income.

TotalEnergies announced that it had notified its Myanmar partners about its withdrawal. The notice will be effective as soon as the six-month period ends.

Past agreements have stipulated that TotalEnergies will share its interests with the partners, except if they object, and that operator duties will be taken over, the agreement said.

TotalEnergies claimed it was the operator in Myanmar of Yadana gas fields’ blocks M5 & M6 since 1992. It also has partners Unocal-Chevron as well as PTTEP (a subsidiary of Thai energy company PTT) and MOGE, the state-owned oil-gas group.

TotalEnergies spokeswoman said that PTT was a natural choice to manage its Myanmar assets. She added that the company had already been in touch with it over this matter.

TotalEnergies stated in a statement that the Yadana gas field is capable of producing approximately 6 billion cubic meters per year. TotalEnergies reported that MOGE receives 30% and PTT exports 70%.

According to the statement, “This gas provides about half of all electricity in Yangoon Burmese capital and also supplies western Thailand.”