(Reuters) -Singapore-listed petroleum explorer Interra Resources said on Thursday a production-sharing contract between its subsidiary and an entity controlled by the Myanmar government was extended years before the military seized power in 2021.
The statement was in response to a query by the Singapore Exchange a week after activist group Justice for Myanmar alleged in a report that Interra had “helped supply the junta” with over two million barrels of oil and “fuelled its ongoing war crimes”.
“The current IPRCs (improved petroleum recovery contracts) were obtained and extended under the civilian government and prior to the military coup in 2021,” Interra said.
Interra requested a trading suspension for its shares before Thursday’s market opening and is seeking legal counsel about its compliance with foreign laws. It said it would request the suspension be lifted once it gets clarity over its compliance.
Justice for Myanmar, in a response on Sunday, said its report had not alleged that the Interra subsidiary had entered the contract after the 2021 coup.
“Interra Resources appear not to be using their contractual rights to prevent the oil they produce from being used in the commission of war crimes,” said Yadanar Maung, a spokesperson for the activist group.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, triggering pro-democracy protests that morphed into a widening armed rebellion that has taken over swathes of the country.
Interra holds a participating interest of about 60% in Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company (GJOC), according to its website. GJOC operates two of the onshore producing oil fields in Chauk and Yenangyaung in central Myanmar.
GJOC secured the production-sharing contract for oil exploration and production with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Myanmar’s state oil and gas enterprise, in late 1996. It was extended for 11 years in April 2017.
GJOC continues to operate in the Southeast Asian nation under the terms of the IPRCs, which have remained unchanged since the coup in 2021, Interra said.
“The company has no control over or power to dictate how the MOGE distributes or uses the oil that is produced by GJOC,” the company said, calling the activist group’s claims “sensationalisation”.
“The report therefore contains untrue allegations that GJOC is ‘favouring the junta,’ ‘has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Myanmar military’ or that GJOC signed the contracts with the ‘previous military junta’,” it said.
Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise was sanctioned by the United States and the European Union after the coup.
(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri and Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Matthew Lewis, Susan Fenton and William Mallard)
