War Crimes Along Blood-Stained Oil and Gas Pipelines

• From Kyaukphyu to China | From Kanbauk to Thailand
• Towns and villages along blood-stained pipelines that have been subjected to nearly 740 bombing attacks

Shwe Project natural gas pipeline connecting Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State, Mandalay, Magway, and northern Shan State to the Kunming region of China, as well as the gas pipelines exporting gas to Thailand from Tanintharyi Region (including Kanbauk Village in Yebyu Township), where the Yadana, Yetagun, and Zawtika projects are located, are generating at least US$1.5 billion in blood money annually for the terrorist military junta. In addition, four new projects are now being developed in the Mottama offshore and Tanintharyi offshore areas of southern Myanmar.

True to the name “blood money“, since the 1990s, when the pipelines were first built, local people along the pipeline routes have lost their property and suffered human rights abuses.

Since the coup attempt, the Myanmar military junta led by Min Aung Hlaing, who has declared himself president, has continued to commit various war crimes on a daily basis in areas where oil and natural gas pipeline projects are located and in townships and villages along the pipeline routes, including human rights violations, aerial bombing attacks targeting civilians, and mass killings.

According to the information compiled by the Nyan Lin Thit Analytics, from February 2021 to September 24, 2026, there were 945 airstrike incidents across Rakhine State, where the Shwe natural gas project is located. These attacks killed 751 civilians and injured 1,379 others.

In the 16 townships that the pipelines carrying gas to China pass through, namely Rakhine State (Ann, Kyaukphyu), Magway Region (Yenangyaung, Magway, Minbu, Ngape), Mandalay Region (Taungtha, Natogyi, Kyaukpadaung, Kyaukse, Pyinoolwin), and northern Shan State (Kyaukme, Hsipaw, Namtu, Namhkam, Lashio), there were 726 airstrikes. These killed 376 civilians and injured 665. In the same 16 townships, the Myanmar military junta also carried out 33 mass killings, each with at least five victims, in which 240 civilians lost their lives.

Across Tanintharyi Region as a whole, home to the Yetagun, Yadana, and Zawtika gas projects, there were 272 airstrike incidents. These killed 66 civilians and injured 146. In addition, the Myanmar military junta carried out 10 mass killings, each with at least five victims, in which 71 civilians lost their lives.

Of these, in Yebyu Township, where the gas pipelines to Thailand come ashore (including the villages of Kanbauk, Zinba, and Kalein Aung), there were 7 airstrike incidents, which killed at least 1 civilian. In addition, the Myanmar military junta carried out 1 mass killing in which 5 civilians were killed.

These gas pipelines generate between 70 and 80 percent of Myanmar’s foreign-currency earnings, providing the Myanmar military junta with billions of US dollars in blood money every year. With this blood money, the military junta obtains aviation fuel, weapons, aircraft and equipment, technology that  it needs to prolong its devastating authoritarian power.

On the afternoon of September 28, 2026, during busy market hours, the Myanmar military junta carried out an airstrike targeting civilians at the Kissapa Thiri market and the Kissapa Nadi bridge in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State.

According to ground reports, at least 50 civilians were killed. Among the dead was a mother who was nine months pregnant. She gave birth while still burning, and both mother and baby burned to death. Some bodies were reduced to ashes, so the death toll could be higher. Fifty-eight people were seriously injured.

These mass killings and airstrikes targeting civilians are war crimes that the Myanmar military junta commits daily in violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Thai, Chinese, South Korean, and Indian companies that continue to operate gas projects in partnership with the Myanmar military junta are complicit in crimes against humanity and other grave atrocities committed by the Myanmar military junta against civilians.

International companies are not only continuing to operate existing projects in areas where human rights violations and war crimes are taking place but are also signing agreements with the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is fully controlled by the Myanmar military junta, for new projects.

These projects include the “Aung Thein Kha” project (M-3), operated by Thailand’s state-owned company PTTEP (a subsidiary of PTT) in the Mottama offshore area; the “Min Ye Thu” project (M-10), operated by Thai private company Gulf Petroleum Myanmar (a subsidiary of Northern Gulf Petroleum – NGP); the “M-15” block project in the Tanintharyi offshore area, operated by Canada-based CFG Energy (a subsidiary of Canadian Foresight Group – CFG); and the “Pyi Thar Yar” project (A-6), operated by MPRL A-6 Limited, the Thailand-based subsidiary of Singapore-registered MPRL E&P Pte Ltd., in the Ayeyarwady offshore area.

This means that Thai companies such as PTT, PTTEP, Gulf Petroleum Myanmar, and MPRL A-6 Limited, Canadian company CFG Energy, and South Korean company POSCO, the operator of the Shwe Project, are explicitly violating the Business and Human Rights Guidelines.

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#BusinessAndHumanRights #BHR #IHL #AirStrikes #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #BloodMoneyCampaignMM