ARCO Left Burma Business in Despair

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ARCO Left Burma Business in Despair

NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Atlantic Richfield Co  said on Tuesday that 
it would not renew an exploration lease offshore Myanmar in which the 
company had invested $50 million over the last three years.
``This will be a complete withdrawal from Myamnar,'' said Al Greenstein, 
a spokesman for ARCO.
    Tuesday's announcement, affecting the M-9 production sharing 
contract, follows ARCO's decision in June not to renew its lease for the 
M-7 contract. ARCO had signed agreements for the contract in 1995 and 
1996.
ARCO will have spent $50 million on its exploration activities in blocks 
M-7 and M-9.
   ``Our investment in the two blocks will be $50 million,'' Greenstein 
said. ARCO said on Tuesday that its decision to withdraw completely from 
Myanmar was due to economics and was not in response to concerns from 
human rights groups and governments about alleged political repression in 
that country.
Those concerns led the U.S. to impose sanctions on Myanmar, formerly 
known as Burma, in May 1997.
   ``The protests and boycotts were not factors. It was an economic 
decision, a strategic one,'' Greenstein said.
    ARCO said the one of the two wells that was drilled on the M-9 
contract produced some gas, but not sufficient to continue its work. "It 
was not a commercial well," Greenstein said.