Myanmar importers paid $15.8 million for jet fuel labeled as diesel
A sanctioned tanker delivered 113,000 barrels of Iranian jet fuel to Myanmar in December 2025 under paperwork that listed the cargo as South African diesel.
By Giulia Marshall ·
Myanmar importers paid $15.8 million for 113,000 barrels of Iranian jet fuel that arrived in December 2025 on paperwork listing the cargo as diesel. The vessel, a sanctioned tanker named Reef, delivered the fuel to Myanmar waters despite the mismatch between the contract and the actual cargo.
Dynamic Wave, a Myanmar-based energy broker, signed the agreement with Thailand's Tawan-Oil Trading. The contract specified a similar quantity of South African diesel. However, United Nations and Vortexa data show no such trade between South Africa and Myanmar in 2025. Satellite images from SynMax Intelligence tracked Reef from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia.
The mislabeling appears to have been approved by local officials. A letter dated November 30 from Myanmar'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 reporters 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 part-owned by the military-backed government.
The use of diesel labels was necessary to bypass sanctions. Washington imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar's jet-fuel industry in 2023. The move followed the military's bombing of civilian targets during its campaign against a rebel-led insurgency. Broad American sanctions also apply to anyone buying Iranian oil and fuel.
This was not the first shipment with false labels. 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 in the invoice matched jet fuel. The price was also over 50% above a global diesel benchmark. The tanker Noble delivered just under 200,000 barrels of jet fuel to Yangon on June 17.
Payment for the December shipment was directed to Tawan's account at Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand's oldest bank. A 2024 UN experts' report named Tawan as a jet-fuel supplier to Myanmar's military. It described the bank as a major facilitator of the military's procurement. The bank said it follows anti-money-laundering laws and that its Myanmar-related transactions were legitimate.
Myanmar's generals seized power in 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a civil war. The United Nations said in August that the military has killed thousands, many of them civilians, in air attacks. Myanmar's foreign ministry responded that the military exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm. Dynamic Wave, its client, Tawan, the bank, Thai and Myanmar authorities, Iran's foreign ministry, and the US Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.
