Australian oil and gas giant Woodside Energy is facing rising pressure to rule out working in Myanmar until democracy is restored following a military coup that seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.

YANGON • Myanmar’s refined fuel imports have stalled as protests over the military coup have shut banks and government offices, while a depreciation of its currency has driven up costs, five industry sources said.

Human rights groups have slammed Australian energy giant Woodside after its chief executive said the company would press ahead with a major gas development in Myanmar and suggested the nation’s former civilian leaders ignored the army’s grievances in the lead-up to the military coup.

Australia’s Woodside Petroleum sees the military coup in Myanmar as “a transitionary issue” that would not affect its drilling in waters off the Southeast Asian nation, its chief executive says.

Singapore — The recent military coup in Myanmar is expected to inject headwinds into the Asian gasoline market as the political situation has raised fears of slowing imports in the near term, potentially squeezing domestic supplies in a country that has limited production bandwidth of its own.

Myanmar’s transition towards renewable energy sources will face near-term headwinds after the recent military coup. However, analysts are more optimistic over the medium to longer term given the dominance of Chinese companies in the sector.

There is a high risk that political turmoil in Myanmar will negatively affect the energy sector, however, Chinese companies look set to benefit from the tumultuous environment, according to Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research.

The bloodless military coup in Myanmar has triggered some upstream companies to assess whether they should activate force majeure clauses in their production-sharing contracts (PSCs) with the government.