Myanmar Officials Rewrote Fuel Contracts

Myanmar's foreign exchange regulator authorized a change in import labels for a sanctioned fuel shipment last month.

Shipping data and contract records reviewed by Reuters indicate a tanker named Reef delivered approximately 113,000 barrels of jet fuel to Myanmar in December 2025. The vessel, which is subject to US sanctions, carried fuel from Iran, yet the accompanying paperwork described the cargo as diesel. Dynamic Wave, a Myanmar-based energy broker, signed a $15.8 million contract with Tawan-Oil Trading, a Thai company, for South African diesel. However, United Nations and Vortexa data show no record of such a trade between the two nations in 2025.

Satellite imagery from SynMax Intelligence tracked the Reef from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia. A letter dated November 30 from Myanmar's foreign exchange regulator instructed the client of Dynamic Wave to issue import papers describing the delivery as diesel instead of jet fuel. The letter did not provide a reason for the change. It also authorized Dynamic Wave and its client, National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company, to pay Tawan. National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company is part-owned by Myanmar's military-backed government.

Washington imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar's jet-fuel industry in 2023 following the military's bombing of civilian targets during a rebel-led insurgency. Buyers of Iranian oil also face broad American sanctions. Justice for Myanmar, an activist group supporting further sanctions, said it obtained the documents from a junta-run server that was briefly accessible to the public. The group noted that delivery dates and quantities in the files match separate Iranian shipment records.

The contract directed payment to Tawan's account at Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand's oldest financial institution. A 2024 report by United Nations experts identified Tawan as a jet-fuel supplier to Myanmar's military and described the bank as a key facilitator of the military's procurement. The bank stated that its Myanmar-related transactions were legitimate and unconnected to the arms trade. Reuters could not determine if the bank knew the specific nature of Tawan's business.

This December shipment followed a similar transaction in May 2025. Dynamic Wave agreed to buy 202,000 barrels of supposed South African diesel from Tawan for $26 million. Jet-fuel expert Joshua Heyne of Washington State University noted that the fuel density on the invoice matched jet fuel, not Southeast Asian diesel. The price was more than 50% above the global diesel benchmark. A tanker named Noble delivered just under 200,000 barrels of jet fuel to Yangon on June 17, 2025.

Myanmar's generals seized power in 2021, starting a civil war. The United Nations reported in August that the military has killed thousands of people, many of them civilians, in air attacks. The Myanmar foreign ministry said the military exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm. Iran remained the military's main jet-fuel supplier from October 2024 through December 2025. The fuel supports both commercial flights and air raids. Dynamic Wave, its client, Tawan, Siam Commercial Bank, Thai and Myanmar authorities, Iran's foreign ministry, and the US Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.