Exclusive: Chevron, investor reach deal on Myanmar
shareholder resolution
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[April 11, 2019]
By Ross Kerber and Jennifer Hiller
BOSTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chevron Corp
will put a focus on human rights in Myanmar under an agreement with an
investor group that had urged it to pay more attention to violence in
the Asian nation where the U.S. oil company has operations.
Chevron will undertake steps including social investment reviews in
Myanmar's Rakhine State, donate to humanitarian organizations for
Rohingya refugees, and help develop practices for companies operating
amid risks of crimes against humanity, according to a letter signed by a
company executive.
Azzad Asset Management, an activist investor that submitted a
shareholder resolution calling on Chevron to report on its business with
governments complicit in genocide or crimes against humanity, agreed to
withdraw the proposal, according to a copy of the agreement viewed by
Reuters.
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"Chevron appreciates Azzad's constructive engagement and commends them
for recognizing our actions related to human rights," Mary Francis,
Chevron's governance officer who signed the letter, said in an emailed
statement. Francis declined to be interviewed.
A similar resolution was opposed by the company at previous shareholder
meetings and last year won support from just 7% of votes cast according
to a securities filing.
Joshua Brockwell, investment communications director at Virginia-based
Azzad, which describes itself as "a faith-based socially responsible
investment firm offering halal investment portfolios," said the
agreement "demonstrates positive steps forward after years of dialogue."
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A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Del Mar, California, in this
April 25, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Blake/FileS/File Photo
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Rakhine State came to global attention in 2017 when the Myanmar army drove about
730,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims across the border and into neighboring
Bangladesh, following attacks by Rohingya insurgents on police posts. U.S. and
United Nations officials have decried the crackdown as a form of genocide.
More recently, the military has been battling another armed rebel group, the
Arakan Army, which draws recruits mostly from the ethnic Rakhine population, who
are mainly Buddhists, and is fighting for greater autonomy for the western
state.
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have spent more than 15 months in
detention since they were arrested in December 2017 while investigating a
massacre of Rohingya Muslim civilians involving Myanmar soldiers.
Chevron, the second-largest U.S.-based oil producer, does business in Myanmar
through a subsidiary, Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co, according to Chevron's
website. Its projects there include a minority interest in natural gas
production and in a pipeline company.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston and Jennifer Hiller in Houston; Editing by
Leslie Adler)
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