Unocal Issues Statement to Correct

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Subject: Unocal Issues Statement to Correct False Allegations Concerning the Yadana Project in Myanmar.



	Unocal Issues Statement to Correct False Allegations Concerning the
			Yadana Project in Myanmar

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LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to false allegations 
made about the Yadana natural gas project by
demonstrators at the company's Los Angeles Terminal today, Unocal issued 
the following statement: 

The Yadana natural gas pipeline project in Myanmar (Burma) is already 
providing significant benefits to the 35,000 people
who live near the pipeline route, including good jobs, improved medical 
care, new and refurbished school facilities, electrical
power and a wide range of local self-sustaining economic initiatives, 
including pig, poultry, goat, cattle and dairy farming. When
the project is completed, it will become a vital part of Myanmar's energy 
infrastructure, helping to move Myanmar into the
world community. 

All work on the Yadana project is done through paid labor. Workers 
receive their pay directly, with receipt stringently
documented. Because its wages are about 30 percent higher than local 
average wage scales for the region, the project has
received almost 2,000 voluntary applications for employment. Everyone 
working on the project must be at least 18 years of
age, must pass a free, project-sponsored physical examination, and 
complete basic first aid, work safety and fire-fighting
training. 

All land required for the pipeline project will be purchased from local 
landowners, based on potential maximum crop yields,
actual crop loss, and other factors. Under this policy, more than 300 
villagers will be paid $1 million to acquire the 525 acres
of land required for project infrastructure, roads, pipeline center and 
right-of-way. No land will be taken without fair
compensation to the owners. 

Since its inception, no villages have been relocated because of the 
pipeline project. This fact is documented by aerial
photography taken over the life of the project. 

The project is currently in the capital investment phase. The pipeline is 
scheduled to begin limited operations in 1998, and the
government of Myanmar will not receive any significant income from the 
project until the year 2001 at the earliest. 

The Yadana Project will not only develop a world class energy resource, 
it could also make feasible a proposed domestic
energy project that will increase electricity supplies to Myanmar's 
capital city and provide substantial new sources of
agricultural products for the country's vital farming industry. SOURCE 
Unocal 

[Reuter,12 Dec 1996].

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