Puma Energy informed authorities that it would be suspending petrol sales at the Myitkyina airport in Kachin State as the trucks carrying the petrol have not been able to arrive on schedule.
According to a letter sent by Puma Energy to the Myitkyina airport authorities on May 26—which Myanmar Now has seen—the petrol supply to the airport has been suspended from that day onwards, until the supply becomes more reliable.
The Singapore-based company started distributing aviation fuel under the name National Energy Puma Aviation Services as a joint venture with the state-owned Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise (MPPE) in 2015.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) welcomed Puma’s suspension of the petrol supply in the state, which has seen more than 100 airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar military since the February 1 coup.
“It’s good that the company is having difficulties supplying it. We welcome it for sure,” KIA spokesperson Col Naw Bu told Myanmar Now.
The KIA seized the military’s strategic Alaw Bum base in Kachin State’s Momauk Township in March. Since early April, the military has been attempting to reclaim the post by launching airstrikes on the area from helicopters.
Trucks assumed to be carrying aviation fuel were also attacked by Kachin forces in Kachin and northern Shan states after the airstrikes around Momauk.
The KIA confirmed that it has given its soldiers instructions to destroy and cut off the supply route of petrol trucks that are literally fuelling the military’s atrocities.
The military council claimed that the trucks destroyed were not carrying aviation fuel but were private trucks carrying gasoline for public use.
The military announced that two vehicles carrying fuel were destroyed when the KIA launched an attack near Zanankha and Suyang villages in Sumprabum Township on May 19.
On May 17, the KIA attacked six trucks carrying fuel through Kutkai Township along the national highway from the Myanmar-China border town of Muse, and another truck between Kutkai and Hsenwi the next day.
Two fuel trucks assumed to be carrying aviation fuel were burned down three miles from Zinbon village in Shwegu on Thursday, a local told Myanmar Now.
Puma Energy’s website said that the company currently provides services to 22 international airlines, 10 domestic airlines, four charter service groups and six fuel agents in Myanmar. It operates at 11 airports in Myanmar, including Yangon International Airport.
The company made an announcement on February 10 that it had decided to suspend its operations in Myanmar following the military’s seizure of power.
