Unocal said on Monday it had reached an out-of-court settlement in landmark [US] lawsuits alleging that the energy company was complicit in human rights abuses committed during the construction of a gas pipeline in Burma...The agreement in principle is the most significant reached under the Alien Tort Claims Act...Unocal has firmly contested the claims linking it to human rights abuses, but the judge in the California state case had agreed to hear charges that Unocal knowingly aided and benefited from the crimes committed by Burmese soldiers. [also refers to Total, PTT, Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE)]