Newsletters
Myanmar's small-scale oil prospectors are under fire from all sides as members of pro-democracy groups and the military battle to capture an increasingly lucrative cottage industry amid the Middle East energy shock.
Myanmar imports 90% of its fuel oil, official figures show, making it particularly vulnerable to supply issues caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
But the central region of Magway hosts a hardscrabble industry of domestic prospectors using basic wooden derricks to pump up small amounts of crude oil.
"As long as we work here, bad luck can kill us," Htun Aung, a worker on an artisanal oil well in Myanmar's arid heartlands, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"But if the reality of death is hard to face, then making a living is even harder," said the 52-year-old, speaking under a pseudonym for security reasons.
Locals have dubbed the area "Anyar Dubai," linking the regional Anyar landscape to the oil-rich Gulf state. Yet the reality is far from wealthy: workers like Aung spend their days soaked in foul crude oil run-off to earn a meager $50 a week.
With prices at Myanmar's petrol pumps nearly double what they were in late February, the underground "black gold" is an increasingly coveted prize of war.
"We just want to live in peace," said Aung. "But now they strike from one side and the others strike from the other; they keep attacking each other."
"We've had to flee three, four, five times already," he added. "We run here, we run there. We fill up our motorbikes with fuel and run again."
Allied pro-democracy group members claim to have controlled oil fields in Magway's Myaing township since 2023, the third year of a nationwide civil war triggered by a coup.
They patrol the dusty territory in a westward crook of the Irrawaddy River in ragtag columns, outfitted with rocket-propelled grenades, flak jackets, tote bags and flip-flops.
Air and drone strikes in Myaing so far this year have already exceeded 2025's total, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a monitor that estimates more than 100,000 people have died since the military took control.
Members shelter in foxholes, camouflaged among thousands of oil wells dug in an unregulated practice dating back centuries.
Engine winches run day and night, lowering pipes tens of meters into boreholes and pulling them back up filled with thick crude oil.
Prospectors pay landowners up to $3,500 to lease a spot to drill, one worker said, with no guarantee they will hit oil.
Some wells yield dribbles while others gush profit, filling tarpaulin-lined pits and barrels with oil hauled off to improvised refineries for processing into petrol and diesel.
"Anyar Dubai" has been "going viral" for its plentiful supply, said Pyae Phyo Kyaw, a spokesperson for the pro-democracy group, at a time when Myanmar military-held areas have been rationing petrol.
He touted recent offensives fending off military advances, but admitted being battered by counterattacks.
"We see it primarily as an attempt to destroy what has been a strong supply route and source of revenue for us," said the 35-year-old, speaking under his real name.
But in September, a monthlong military operation claimed to have captured over 130 wells in Myaing and 735 more in neighboring Pakokku township.
Scores of pro-democracy factions and ethnic minority armed groups are fighting the military over the 2021 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
As the conflict drags on, all sides are competing to fund their war efforts by taxing or trading valuable natural resources, including gemstones, rare-earth minerals, gold, and teak.
Major oil projects are rarely fought over because the military guards them heavily. Official output is also small by international standards—reaching just around 6,000 barrels a day last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Instead, pro-democracy groups focus on small-scale, makeshift oil fields precisely because they are smaller and easier to target, according to Thomas Kean, a senior Myanmar analyst at the International Crisis Group.
"Part of the reason why they're significant is because they're not globally significant," he said, explaining that they are small enough to thrive under the radar, yet big enough to fund fighting.
Spiking oil prices may not directly drive conflict, said Kean, highlighting a broader military campaign to evict members from heartland footholds by squeezing revenue sources.
But as the spoils of war become more profitable, the stakes get higher.
"We're talking about millions of barrels a year coming out of these oil fields," he added.
"With global prices what they are, that's a significant amount of money."
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
