A Singapore-listed company has supplied millions of barrels of oil to the Myanmar junta since the 2021 coup, aiding the regime’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, covert activist group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) reports.
Interra Resources Ltd, through its Myanmar subsidiary, has provided over 2.3 million barrels of oil worth over US$150 million to the junta-controlled Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) since the 2021 coup, JFM said in a report released Wednesday.
The oil has been a critical resource for the junta, enabling it to produce fuel for its military aircraft, tanks, and trucks, it said.
Interra owns 60 percent of Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company Inc., which extracts oil from Myanmar’s onshore fields.
The other 40 percent is owned by North Petroleum International Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned arms conglomerate NORINCO, which also supplies weapons to the Myanmar military.
According to analysis by JFM and the U.K.-based journalism organization Finance Uncovered, Goldpetrol supplied MOGE with over 2.3 million barrels of crude oil between January 2021 and the end of 2023, pocketing over $55 million in revenue.
MOGE, the regime’s largest source of foreign revenue, has been sanctioned by the EU and U.S. for its central role in funding the junta’s military campaign.
Another state-owned enterprise, Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise (MPE), controls the downstream sector—refining, storage, and distribution.
The junta has used this fuel supply to conduct its airstrikes, artillery shelling, and other attacks that have killed thousands of civilians including children. It has targeted schools, hospitals, and displacement camps, forcing over 3.3 million people from their homes.
JFM called for coordinated international sanctions against MOGE, MPE, and military-linked financial institutions and urged Singapore to block the junta’s access to funds, arms, and jet fuel.
It also called on the Singapore Stock Exchange to take regulatory action against Interra for continuing to do business with MOGE and complicity in the junta’s crimes.
Goldpetrol has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Myanmar military. The company signed its first production contracts in 1996 with the previous junta, and agreed another 11-year deal in 2017.
Its onshore oil fields in Chauk and Yenangyaung are two of the largest in Myanmar, covering more than 1,800 sq. km of central Magwe Region.
Production was suspended for two months after the coup in early 2021, but the company has since ramped up output, and its annual report shows an overall increase in revenue from earlier years.
In an emailed statement to JFM, Interra said Goldpetrol continued to supply oil to MOGE after it was seized by the junta because it had to fulfill its “contractual obligations” under the terms of a production-sharing agreement.
“Goldpetrol is obliged to sell all the oil produced to the host government,” it said, adding that the company had “complied with the applicable ESG [environmental, social, and governance] requirements”.
But MOGE pays for only about 50 percent of the oil, taking the rest in kind for the license to operate in Myanmar, taxes, and royalties.
“Interra Resources should take immediate action to halt all ongoing business with the Myanmar military junta in accordance with its international responsibilities,” JFM said.
It added any enhanced due diligence and assessment of human rights breaches risk will show that its operations in Myanmar “directly aid and abet war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
“Given the level of control exercised by Interra over Goldpetrol, its continuing operations in Myanmar expose it to untenable legal and regulatory risks,” it warned.
It added that the Singaporean government, as a member of ASEAN, has a “heightened responsibility to prevent companies and citizens in its territory from materially supporting the military junta.”
