News - Middle East: Some of the biggest oil and gas service companies from Western countries have continued to make millions of dollars from operations in Myanmar that have helped prop up the country's military regime.

A report published in the Guardian on Wednesday said leaked Myanmar tax records showed that oil and gas field contractors from the United States, Britain and Ireland continued to make millions in profit in Myanmar after the military coup in February 2021.

They provided essential drilling and other services to Myanmar’s gas field operators, according to the report.

The documents suggest that in some cases the subsidiaries of major US gas field service firms continued working in Myanmar, including with state-owned entities that financially benefit the junta, such as the national oil and gas company Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).

The documents were obtained by the transparency non-profit Distributed Denial of Secrets and analyzed by Myanmar activist group Justice For Myanmar, investigative journalism organization Finance Uncovered and the Guardian.

US oil giant Halliburton’s Singapore-based subsidiary Myanmar Energy Services reported pre-tax profits of $6.3m in Myanmar in the year to September 2021, which includes eight months while the military was in power.

Houston-headquartered oil services company Baker Hughes branch in Yangon showed pre-tax profits of $2.64m in the six months to March 2022.

US firm Diamond Offshore Drilling reported $37m in fees to the Myanmar tax authority during the year to September 2021 and another $24.2m from then until March 2022, according to reports.

Last February the European Union announced sanctions against MOGE itself over “intensifying human rights violations in Myanmar” and the “substantive resources” MOGE provides the junta.

But the US and UK have refused to introduce similar measures and such direct or indirect dealings with MOGE are not prohibited for their firms.

Pointing to the hypocrisy, the US and its allies Canada, the UK and Australia imposed fresh sanctions on Myanmar on Wednesday, adding pressure on the military regime two years since it overthrew the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup.