Myanmar military recaptures gas field from resistance forces in Magway Region

Subscribe to the Myanmar Now daily newsletter. It's free. Sign up > Junta forces took back the Pu Htoe Lon oil and gas field in Gangaw Township, Magway Region on Wednesday after anti-junta fighters had held it for about two weeks, resistance sources said. The military launched a massive counteroffensive on Tuesday to retake the field, located near the town of Kyaw, using airstrikes and ground assaults to drive out the resistance fighters.According to a resistance-aligned People’s Administration Organization (PAO) official working near Kyaw, there were bombing raids in the area by the junta air force throughout the day on Tuesday. The next day, he said, a force of at least 100 infantry troops—advancing from the Myanmar Directorate of Defence Industries (DI) No. 23 facility some 10 miles away—carried out a ground attack, forcing the remaining resistance forces to retreat and allowing the soldiers to retake the Pu Htoe Lon field by Wednesday evening. “We withdrew after preparing for an orderly retreat. For now, they’re still occupying the field; we can say they've taken it back," the PAO official said. He added that although junta forces have regained control, the Pu Htoe Lon field is not in a condition to resume production in the immediate future. According to a senior official at the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise—the country’s regime-controlled oil and gas company—a power plant in the area previously supplied electricity to the town of Kyaw using gas from the Pu Htoe Lon field, but the engineer in charge evacuated the plant following a resistance attack in late 2023. Afterwards, authorities stationed soldiers and police at the non-operational plant for security, he said. On August 15, an alliance of anti-junta fighters seized control of the Well-1 production station and a junta outpost on the Pu Htoe Lon field from police and military forces. The alliance included members of the Kyaw People’s Defence Organisation (PDO), some battalions of the Gangaw District PDO, the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, and the Chinland Defence Forces of Kalay, Kabaw, and Gangaw (CDF-KKG). During the battle for the oil and gas field’s production station, the resistance forces announced that they had seized a cache of weapons and ammunition and captured 12 junta soldiers, including a warrant officer, class 2. The Kyaw area was likely a priority target for recapture by the junta not only because of the oil and gas field, but also because of its proximity to a DI production facility and consequent strategic importance, according to Saya Kyaung, a Gangaw District PDO officer. Residents of all three wards in the town of Kyaw had been forced to flee their homes on the day junta forces launched the attacks, with most soldiers’ families in the town moving to the DI No. 23 factory for refuge, Saya Kyaung added. Sources within the resistance said they still control other oil and gas fields in the region such as the Thagyitaung field in Pakokku Township, captured by anti-junta forces in August, and the Letpanto field in Pauk and Myaing townships, captured in April. According to a statement issued by the pre-coup civilian government in Magway Region, there were seven oil and gas fields under union-level management in the region before the coup, which produced over 2.1 million barrels of crude oil in 2019. The regional government’s minister of planning and finance said that the seven fields had produced more than 96 million cubic metres of natural gas from October 2019 to September 2020. The armed resistance against Myanmar’s military dictatorship maintains a strong presence in Magway Region, especially in the northern areas bordering Sagaing Region and Chin State.

Myanmar military recaptures gas field from resistance forces in Magway Region

While the resistance still controls other oil and gas fields in the region, the junta may have prioritised retaking the Pu Htoe Lon field in Gangaw Township because of its proximity to a munitions factory

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