Myanmar Importers Swapped Fuel Labels

A tanker delivered approximately 113,000 barrels of fuel to Myanmar in December 2025, yet the accompanying paperwork identified the cargo as diesel rather than the jet fuel it actually contained. The vessel, named Reef, is under United States sanctions. Shipping data and documents reviewed by Reuters confirm the discrepancy between the physical cargo and the legal description.

Dynamic Wave, an energy broker based in Myanmar, ordered the shipment. The company signed a $15.8 million contract with Thailand's Tawan-Oil Trading for a similar volume of South African diesel. However, data from the United Nations and Vortexa shows no such trade occurred between South Africa and Myanmar in 2025. SynMax Intelligence tracked the Reef from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia using satellite imagery.

The mislabeling helped the buyer avoid targeted sanctions imposed by Washington in 2023. Those measures targeted Myanmar's jet-fuel industry following the military's bombing of civilian targets. Broader American sanctions also apply to anyone purchasing Iranian oil products.

Myanmar authorities appear to have facilitated the switch. A letter dated November 30 from the country's foreign exchange regulator instructed the client of Dynamic Wave that import papers would describe the delivery as diesel instead of jet fuel. The letter, provided to Reuters by the activist group Justice for Myanmar, authorized Dynamic Wave and its client, National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company, to pay Tawan. The client is partially owned by Myanmar's military-backed government.

Justice for Myanmar stated it obtained the documents from a server run by the junta that was briefly accessible to the public. Reuters found a dead link to one file in search engine results, indicating it had been hosted there. Delivery dates and quantities in the documents align with separate Iranian shipment records reviewed by the news agency.

Payment for the contract went to Tawan's account at Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand's oldest 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 military procurement. The bank maintains 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 shipment followed a larger transaction in May 2025. Dynamic Wave agreed to buy 202,000 barrels of purported South African diesel from Tawan for $26 million. Joshua Heyne, a jet-fuel expert at Washington State University, noted that the fuel density and price matched jet fuel characteristics rather than Southeast Asian diesel. The tanker Noble delivered just under 200,000 barrels of jet fuel to Yangon on June 17. SynMax reported the vessel loaded at Bandar Abbas and broadcast signals suggesting a route to Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Myanmar's generals seized power in 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, starting a civil war. The United Nations reported in August that the military has killed thousands, including many civilians, in air attacks. Myanmar's foreign ministry said the military exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm. Reuters reported in January that Iran was the military's main jet-fuel supplier between October 2024 and December 2025. 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.