Chinese firms are helping Myanmar’s military build a jet-fuel refinery, investigation finds

By *Alambara An investigation into the Thanlyin refinery project and its role in reducing the military regime’s dependence on imported aviation fuel. Myanmar’s military is moving to produce its own Jet A-1 aviation fuel Myanmar’s military regime is moving to produce Jet A-1 aviation fuel domestically, with Chinese companies supplying the design, equipment and infrastructure for the project, a DVB investigation has found. A review of publicly available company records, government statements, corporate websites and vessel-tracking data shows that the Thanlyin refinery, on the outskirts of Yangon, is being revived specifically to reduce the military’s reliance on imported jet fuel, a dependence that has made it vulnerable to international sanctions, foreign-currency shortages and swings in the global fuel market. As fighting has intensified across Myanmar, aviation fuel has become one of the military’s most important strategic resources, alongside weapons and ammunition. The air force increasingly provides close air support to ground troops, transports personnel and equipment, and strikes ground targets, including in civilian-populated areas. The fuel that keeps those aircraft flying has become critical to sustaining the regime’s air operations. The project involves the state-owned Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise (MPE) and companies linked to the military’s existing aviation-fuel supply network. DVB also found that several Chinese companies are involved in the project’s engineering, equipment manufacturing, construction, installation and pipeline infrastructure. Aviation-fuel imports more than double in a year Myanmar imported 64,562 metric tonnes of aviation fuel in 2024, according to data from the regime-controlled Myanmar Port Authority. That figure rose to 140,306 metric tonnes in 2025, an increase of 75,744 tonnes, or roughly 117 percent, in a single year. Imports in 2025 were approximately 2.17 times the 2024 level. Research by Amnesty International into Myanmar’s aviation-fuel supply chain identifies two main types entering the country, aviation gasoline, also known as Avgas, and Jet A-1. Jet A-1, which can be used by both military and civilian jet aircraft, is the main type imported. Following the 2021 military coup, several countries imposed sanctions on companies, business figures and regime-controlled entities involved in supplying aviation fuel to Myanmar. Human rights organisations have documented how participants in the supply chain have attempted to circumvent those measures, changing company names, using new intermediaries and obscuring information about vessel, cargo and corporate ownership. Myanmar’s limited refining capacity Myanmar has three main oil refineries, all overseen by MPE under the Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MoEE). They are the No. 1 Refinery (Thanlyin), the No. 2 Refinery (Chauk), and the Petrochemical Complex (Thanbayarkan). Only Thanbayarkan is currently operating. Thanlyin and Chauk remain shut down. According to the MoEE, Thanbayarkan can process about 300,000 gallons a day but runs for only around 14 days each month, a constraint the ministry has attributed to limited crude-oil supply rather than scheduled maintenance. Myanmar would need to refine at least eight million tonnes of crude oil annually to meet total domestic demand for petroleum products, according to figures cited in project documents. Current domestic refining capacity is estimated at only around three percent of that requirement. That benchmark covers all refined petroleum products, not aviation fuel specifically. Jet A-1 self-sufficiency is a narrower, though related, goal. The country remains heavily dependent on imported petroleum products and aviation fuel, requiring large amounts of foreign currency at a time when the military authorities are under international sanctions. A refinery shut since 2017, ordered back into service Since seizing power, military regime leader Min Aung Hlaing has introduced measures to control foreign-currency spending and restrict imports, and has ordered the revival of several industrial and energy projects suspended under previous governments. The Thanlyin refinery is among them. Construction of the No. 1 Refinery (Thanlyin) began in 1925 under British colonial rule and was expanded in several later stages. Operations were suspended in 2017 because of inadequate crude-oil supplies, ageing infrastructure and concerns over product quality. Beginning in late 2023, Min Aung Hlaing publicly called for the facility to be restored as quickly as possible. Repair work and equipment installation later began, divided into two phases. The first phase is designed to process 500,000 tonnes of feedstock annually. Once the second phase is complete, which is scheduled for 2028, total annual processing capacity is expected to reach three million tonnes. The MoEE estimates the completed project could meet about 43 per cent of Myanmar’s total demand for petroleum products. How the refinery would produce Jet A-1 Official regime statements describe the project as an effort to improve domestic fuel self-sufficiency in general. But DVB’s review of the project’s technical specifications and installed equipment indicates that Jet A-1 production is a major, specifically-engineered component of the development, not an incidental byproduct. In the first phase, condensate from the offshore Zawtika gas field is expected to be the main feedstock. The condensate would be separated and processed into liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline, kerosene and diesel. The kerosene would then undergo hydrotreating, a refining process that removes sulphur and other unwanted compounds, to produce Jet A-1. DVB has not been able to independently verify whether the fuel produced would meet international aviation-fuel quality standards. A new company with ties to the military’s existing fuel network The Thanlyin project is led by Thanlyin Refinery Company Limited and Thanlyin Petrochemical Company Limited. Thalyin Petrochemical Company Limited is a joint venture between Thanlyin Refinery Company Limited and MPE. Records from Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) show that Thanlyin Refinery Company Limited was registered in November 2024 as a private company, while Thanlyin Petrochemical Company Limited was registered in December 2025 under the 1950 Special Company Act, as a private company limited by shares. This is a load-bearing finding. According to research by Justice for Myanmar, the directors of Thanlyin Petrochemical Company Limited include Myint Mo Kyaw Zin, a director of Asia Sun Energy Company Limited, and Yin Yin Aung, a director of National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company Limited (NEPAS). Amnesty International and Justice For Myanmar have identified both Asia Sun Energy and NEPAS as participants in the military regime’