Unocal in Burma
Case Study
Jason Peng
Professor: Calvin Hayes
Total words: 1863 (reference involved)
Union Oil Company of California, Unocal, has developed into a full-service oil business since it was founded more than 100 years ago to develop oil fields in California. The services involved are extraction, refining, distribution, marketing and retail. Thanks to the depletion of oil fields in the United States, Unocal turned to foreign investments with a strategy to market its one-stop shopping business to governments. "A major international project of interest was the "Yadana Field" off the shore of Burma, which contained approximately 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas enough to produce gas continuously for about 30 years. Burma's government created the company Mynamar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) to find private companies to help develop their oil." (Noele51, 2008)
In the following analysis, I will provide my viewpoint on the moral responsibilities of Unocal for the injuries inflicted on and suffered by the Karen people of Burma.
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Tengwar sample2Then, I will examine Unocal's view that engagement rather than isolation is the proper course in achieving social and political change in Burma. Lastly, I will examine the case study of Unocal from different essential perspectives of ethics. Unocal was known to all as an American oil and gas conglomerate that was subject to class action suits for so-called human rights violations in Burma. These suits were filled at both the US federal and California state courts.
In terms of the stakeholders of this case, Unocal is a majority stakeholder in a consortium that hopes to construct a gas and oil pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Besides, the vice president of Unocal, different parties in the Yadana and the employees in the Unocal and so on can be also considered as...