Myanmar Officials Relabeled Jet Fuel As Diesel

Myanmar’s fuel imports arrived with a mismatched identity. A tanker named Reef docked in December 2025 carrying roughly 113,000 barrels of cargo that paperwork described as diesel. The vessel actually transported jet fuel from Iran, a product subject to targeted US sanctions imposed on the Myanmar military in 2023.

The transaction was arranged by Dynamic Wave, a local energy broker. It signed a $15.8 million deal with Thailand’s Tawan-Oil Trading to import South African diesel. However, United Nations and Vortexa data show no such trade occurred between the two countries in 2025. Satellite analysis by SynMax Intelligence tracked the Reef from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia, confirming the origin of the fuel.

Myanmar’s foreign exchange regulator played a direct role in the paperwork. A letter dated November 30 instructed the client, National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company, that import documents would list the delivery as diesel "instead of jet fuel." The regulator gave no explanation for the change. The client is partly owned by the military-backed government.

The activist group Justice for Myanmar obtained the letter from a server run by the junta that was briefly accessible to the public. The group said it plans to push for further sanctions on jet fuel imports. Reuters noted that a dead link to one of the files appeared in search engine results, indicating the document had been hosted on the government server. Delivery dates in the file matched separate Iranian shipment records.

Payment for the shipment went to Tawan’s account at Siam Commercial Bank. A 2024 UN experts’ report identified Tawan as a supplier to Myanmar’s military and named the bank as a key facilitator of military procurement. The bank maintains its transactions were legitimate and separate from the arms trade, though Reuters could not determine if the bank knew the specific nature of Tawan’s business.

This was not the first time the two companies used this method. In May 2025, they agreed to buy 202,000 barrels of supposed South African diesel for $26 million. Jet fuel expert Joshua Heyne of Washington State University noted the fuel density matched jet fuel, not diesel. The price was more than 50% higher than global diesel benchmarks. The tanker Noble delivered just under 200,000 barrels to Yangon on June 17.

Myanmar’s military took control in 2021, starting a civil war that the United Nations says has killed thousands of civilians in air attacks. The military’s foreign ministry states it exercises maximum restraint. Iran remains the main supplier of jet fuel to the military, a role that provides Tehran with foreign currency while supporting both commercial flights and air raids in Myanmar.