Myanmar

EITI Status Yet to be assessed against the 2016 Standard
EITI Member Since 2014
Latest Data From 2014
Website EITI Myanmar

Overview

Myanmar's natural resources include oil and gas, minerals and gems. The extractive sector accounted for 6% of GDP, 23.6% of State revenue and 38.5% of exports in 2013. It has proven oil reserves of 50 m barrels and proven gas reserves of 10 trillion cubic feet. The extractive sector is the second largest source of foreign direct investment and represent close to 40% of exports, with gas and gems being the two main revenue generating commodities.

The Myanmar government's 12-point Economic Policy accentuates the strategic role of EITI in the reform process, specifically in natural resource governance.  The EITI creates a platform for vibrant discussions on issues around resource sharing which is widely debated and central to the ongoing peace process. The EITI is also stimulating public debate and shedding light on lost revenues from the jade and gems sector. Official revenues from gem stones sales in 2014 were estimated at US$3.4 bn, according to the first Myanmar EITI Report published in 2016. However, real figures from other sources have been cited to range between US$9-US$30 bn. According to a World Bank study commissioned by Myanmar EITI in 2016,  it is estimated that 70-80% of gemstones produced in Myanmar are not declared and therefore bypass the formal system.  The first EITI Report disclosed that Future Myanmar EITI Reports will include royalties from jade and gems disclosed by both government and companies. 

News, blogs and more

Tax and legal framework

Myanmar has a Petroleum Law, a Mines Law and a Gemstone Law, but Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) typically govern all extractive projects. Contracts are confidential, but model oil and gas PSCs are disclosed by the Ministry of Energy. PSC holders and their legal owners are disclosed in their EITI Report. The main revenue streams in both the hydrocarbon and mining sector are production spilt, state-owned company entitlement, royalties and commercial tax/corporate income tax. State-owned companies collect 85% of the revenues from the extractive sector on behalf of the government. Tax revenues are collected by the Ministry of Finance. No revenues are collected by subnational governments.

 
Ministry of Mines: Laws and regulations
Ministry of Energy: Laws and regulations
Institutional and regulatory assessment of the Extractive Industries in Myanmar
Gilded gatekeepers: Myanmar’s state-owned oil, gas and mining enterprises
The shell starts to crack: Real owners of Myanmar’s oil and gas blocks come forward

Beneficial ownership disclosure

Myanmar started work on beneficial ownership by mapping the corporate structure of the companies operating in the country. The 2013 EITI Report includes the legal ownership of oil, gas and mining companies. More than 95 % of the extractive companies are Chinese, Myanmar or Thai. The report recommends to establish a public register of beneficial ownership. Global Witness has already documented the beneficial owners of many of the oil and gas companies operating in the country.

The MSG is currently discussing the publication of Myanmar's beneficial ownership roadmap to disclose real owners of extractive companies in the country. 

 

Myanmar Beneficial Ownership Roadmap
Natural resources and subnational governments in Myanmar: Key considerations for wealth sharing
EITI Myanmar week - Day 4
Could natural resource revenue sharing help secure peace in Myanmar
Although extractive industries contributed substantially to the rapid growth of the economy in recent years, we have been facing many challenges in relation to social and environmental issues. In this regard, strong institutions, clear environmental regulations and governance, law enforcement and social safeguards are undoubtedly required, along with social, economic and environment factors to achieve sustainable development. Therefore, Myanmar has been trying to be an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative-compliant country to ensure transparency and accountability in natural resources exploitation and financial management.
Minister U Ohn Win, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation

Production

Natural resources

Myanmar has rich deposits of natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, gemstones, precious and semi-precious stones, tin, tungsten, and zinc. Around 90% of the world’s supply of rubies are sourced from Myanmar and the country is also the world’s largest single source of Jade. Oil and gas is found both offshore and onshore. Mining occurs throughout the country with most of the jade deposits located in Kachin state.

CommodityReservesUnitSignificance
Oil50million barrels
Gas10trillion Sm3Second largest natural gas producer within South-East Asia
2013 EITI Report
USGS 2012 Minerals Yearbook: Burma

Innovations

The EITI encourages multi-stakeholder groups to explore innovative approaches to make the EITI more relevant and useful.

  • EITI subnational units have been established in Mandalay, Magway, Rakhine and Shan.

  • The EITI Report discloses the cost of oil and gas sales to domestic refineries at subsidised prices.

Implementation

Governance

On 19 December 2016, the Union Government formally appointed the Myanmar EITI Leading Committee composed of the Minister of Planning and Finance (MOPF) as Chair, the Minister of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Minister of Energy and Electricity as members, and the Deputy Minister of MOPF as Secretary.  The Renaissance Institute was appointed as the National Coordination Office. Civil society is represented by nine members of the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA), while industry is represented by members of the Myanmar Federation of Mining Associations (MFMA) and oil and gas companies. Government has seven representatives.

The workplan is currently being drafted by the MSG and is expected to be approved by April 2017.  On 7 March 2017, the EITI International Board approved MEITI's request for extension of deadlines, setting 31 March 2018 as the deadline for the publication of the second EITI Report, and 1 July 2018 as the commncement date for their Validation.  

Timeline

 

Validation

Myanmar's Validation against the Standard will commence on 1 July 2018. The country was admitted as EITI candidate in 2014.

EITI Reports and other key documents

2013-2014 Myanmar EITI Report

Published Date: 
November, 2015
Publisher: 
Myanmar EITI

This EITI Report covers Myanmar's extractive sector in 2013 and 2014. It was published in December 2015. 

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Myanmar EITI scoping study

Published Date: 
November, 2015
Publisher: 
Myanmar EITI

Executive summaryMyanmar EITI has carried out a scoping study in order to set out the EITI reconciliation scope which will be used for the first Myanmar EITI report. This assignment is the first step and pre-condition to the reconciliation process.

Objective of the missionThe objective of the report is to clearly define the scope of the EITI reconciliation exercise, the Reporting Templates, the data collection process and the working schedule, in accordance with the EITI Requirements (Version 2013) and objectives agreed by the EITI Committee.

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View all documents related to Myanmar in our publications library

Contacts

International Secretariat

Dyveke Rogan EITI

Dyveke Rogan

dyveke.rogan
Policy and Regional Director
drogan@eiti.org

EITI responsibilities: Support to EITI implementation and outreach in Asia.  

Prior to joining the EITI in 2009, Dyveke worked for Xstrata Nickel in the Dominican Republic and at the Center for Development Studies at the University of Agder.

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Marie Gay Alessandra Ordenes EITI

Marie Gay Alessandra Ordenes

alessandra.v.ordenes
Regional Director
gordenes@eiti.org

EITI responsibilities: South East Asia and Asia Pacific

Gay was the National Coordinator of  Philippine EITI before joining the International Secretariat. A lawyer by profession,

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