Mideast Energy Shock Turns Myanmar's Artisanal Oil Wells Into Prize of Civil War

Htun Aung works a derrick in the dry heartland of Myanmar's Magway region, and the work is dirty and dangerous. He is 52, and he spoke under a pseudonym for his own safety. His days are spent soaked in crude run-off, and he earns about $50 a week. "As long as we work here, bad luck can kill us," he said. Making a living, he added, is even harder than facing the prospect of death.

He works in a cottage industry that has become a prize in Myanmar's civil war. Myanmar imports 90 percent of its fuel oil, according to official figures, which leaves it exposed to the supply disruption caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. Pump prices in the country are now nearly double what they were in late February. In that market, the crude pulled from small wells in Magway has become far more valuable to anyone who can control it.

The area is nicknamed "Anyar Dubai," a reference to the oil-rich Gulf emirate, though the pay of workers like Htun Aung bears no resemblance to a boom. Engine winches run day and night, lowering tubes dozens of metres down boreholes and hauling them back up full of oil slurry. Some wells give only dribbles, while others produce real profit, filling tarpaulin-lined pits and barrels. The oil is then carried to improvised refineries and turned into petrol and diesel. One veteran prospector said drillers pay landowners as much as $3,500 to lease a spot, with no guarantee of striking oil. The practice is unregulated and dates back centuries.

Since 2023, allied pro-democracy rebels have claimed control of oil fields in Magway's Myaing township. The war is in its fifth year, set off by the 2021 coup that removed Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. The rebels patrol in ragged columns, carrying rocket-propelled grenades and wearing flak jackets, tote bags and flip-flops. They shelter in foxholes camouflaged among thousands of wells. ACLED, a conflict monitor, says air and drone strikes in Myaing this year have already passed the total for all of 2025. It also estimates that more than 100,000 people have died since the coup.

For the workers, the fighting means constant flight. "They strike from one side and the others strike from the other," Htun Aung said. "We've had to flee three, four, five times already." He described filling up motorbikes with fuel and running again.

The rebels see the fields as central to their war effort. Spokesman Pyae Phyo Kyaw, 35, who gave his real name, said "Anyar Dubai" has been "going viral" for its plentiful supply, at a time when areas held by the military have been rationing petrol. He pointed to recent offensives that pushed back military advances but admitted the rebels have been battered by counter-attacks. He described the military's push as an attempt to destroy a strong supply route and a source of revenue. The military could not be reached for comment. In September, however, it claimed that a month-long operation captured more than 130 wells in Myaing and 735 more in neighbouring Pakokku township.

All sides in the war are trying to fund themselves through the tax or trade of natural resources such as gems, rare earths, gold and teak. Oil has generally not been contested. The major projects are heavily guarded by the military, and official output is small by international standards, about 6,000 barrels a day last year according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Thomas Kean, senior Myanmar consultant for the International Crisis Group, said the artisanal fields matter because they are not globally significant. They are small enough to operate under the radar, yet large enough to fund guerrillas. He said higher oil prices may not directly drive the conflict, which is part of a wider military campaign to push rebels out of heartland footholds by squeezing their revenue. But as the spoils grow more profitable, the stakes rise. "We're talking about millions of barrels a year coming out of these oil fields," he said, and at current global prices that is a significant amount of money.

What to watch is whether the military's September gains hold, and whether the strikes on Myaing keep climbing, with workers like Htun Aung caught in between.