Resistance forces seize control of oil rig in central Myanmar

Allied resistance forces recently took over an oil rig in Magway Region and a nearby junta police station in Pauk Township, capturing several officers who attempted to abandon the site, according to members of an anti-regime group involved. The Letpando oil rig, one of seven state-owned rigs in Magway that had been under Union-level management prior to Myanmar’s February 2021 coup, was overrun by guerrilla forces in late April. An officer formerly from the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE)—the internationally sanctioned national entity which operated the rigs—who left his post to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the coup, said that the Letpando site had ceased production in recent years. He told Myanmar Now that it was left unstaffed due to personnel taking part in the CDM’s general strike, and following warnings issued by the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) to shut the facility down. “The Letpando oil rig used to produce over 400 tanks of oil a day but MOGE has abandoned the project since the PDF entered the area in December 2021,” the officer explained, adding that the staff “fled.” The junta stated on one of its official websites that on the night of December 16 that year, “terrorists”—the term it uses to describe the resistance movement—had set fire to oil extracted from the Letpando oil field stored in the Pauk Township village of Kyauktain Khin, destroying 12,000 barrels. Anti-junta forces have repeatedly targeted sites and industries seen as revenue sources for the junta, including those involving trade and the management of natural resources. Junta photo showing a burning oil storage facility from the Letpando oil field in December 2021 allegedly targeted by the resistance (Website of Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services) The rig had since been guarded by some 50 troops and policemen at the Falan Kine Regional Police Station one mile away. They abandoned the location on April 18, according to a guerrilla group that took part in attacks on the site in recent months, surrounding it and blocking supply routes. “They had completely run out of supplies because we cut them off four months ago,” a squadron commander in the neighbouring Myaing PDF said, noting that supplies would typically be sent by the military every four months. An April 8 junta letter seen by Myanmar Now called for legal action to be taken against two police captains with 35 men collectively under their command for refusing to be deployed to the Falan Kine Regional Police Station. A military convoy from Myaing, which borders Pauk, attempted to resupply the police station on April 14, and the troops at the police station retreated back to the town with the convoy four days later, against orders from their superior officers, the PDF squadron commander said. Some 150 junta personnel were present in the retreating unit, which was intercepted and attacked by resistance forces several times en route. The anti-junta groups captured one soldier and nine police officers in the assaults on April 21 and 22, including a captain, three corporals, a lieutenant, a lance corporal, and three privates. Captured police officers and their weapons (Myaing PDF) Some of the police officers were injured, and others were malnourished, resistance sources said, noting that two died soon after their capture, including one officer who was described as “elderly.” “They might have starved to death as they didn’t have anything to eat for four days [before we intercepted them],” Let Yar, a representative of the Myaing PDF, told Myanmar Now. “We tried to give them IV drips of glucose but we were already too late.” “They didn’t even have enough water, let alone food, and they couldn’t leave the place so they decided to take whatever punishment they were dealt and leave along with the convoy sending them supplies.” The officers had reportedly been told that they would be reassigned to new locations every six months, but had been deployed at the Falan Kine police station for 22 months. From the station in question, the Myaing PDF stated that they seized seven rifles, an M78 rocket launcher, and ammunition. The resistance was unable to seize equipment from the Lepanto oil rig, because the junta’s air force bombed it days after it was taken by the guerrilla forces. “Not only was everything destroyed, the fire wouldn’t go out for three days and we just couldn’t put it out. We lost a lot of machinery,” the Myaing PDF’s Let Yar said. While they could continue extracting oil with hand-dug rigs, operating the Letpando rig was too risky due to the continued threat of military airstrikes, he explained. “Even if we managed to get it running again, we don’t have enough machinery anymore nor are the professionals and technicians brave enough to come work here due to the bomb and airstrike threats.” Myanmar’s total of 12 state-owned rigs managed at the Union level nationwide produced more than 21 million tonnes of crude oil during the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Five of the seven rigs in Magway produced more than 3.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas that same year.

Resistance forces seize control of oil rig in central Myanmar

The People’s Defence Force of Myaing Township was among the groups that took over the state-owned Letpando oil rig, which has been out of operation since staff fled in 2021

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