"Chinese energy companies lobby junta to import Russian gas" 22 September 2022

A leaked document from the junta’s Ministry of Electric Power reveals that three Chinese energy companies appealed to the junta for help importing liquified natural gas from the Russian government, as the regime’s economic policies wreak havoc on the energy sector.

The document, in the form of a memo, indicates a meeting took place on July 25 in Nay Pyi Taw with representatives from MoEP, Hong Kong-listed VPower and Chinese state-owned firms CNTIC and Genertec. (VPower is also part-owned by CITIC, another Chinese state-owned investment firm).

“At present, we are having difficulty getting LNG and US dollars,” reads the memo, explaining that because the companies could not get US dollars in time, the LNG meant for them was sold to another buyer.

A representative from one of the three companies, who requested anonymity, confirmed the authenticity of the document but declined to comment further.

“We contacted Russia to buy LNG but they do not want to sell directly to a company, they only want to sell government-to-government,” the document reads, appealing for the junta’s MoPE to “help purchase LNG from Russia”.

VPower did not confirm or deny the authenticity of the document, but said it “does not engage in nor plan to engage in any LNG procurement” and has no “business dealings with any Russian entities”. [...]

Mr Jason Tower, Myanmar country director for the United States Institute for Peace, said the proposal is unusual because LNG is “plentiful” in Myanmar, and shifting to Russia would not have solved the companies’ main problem, the lack of US dollars. [...] While many international businesses have pulled out of Myanmar since the coup in response to instability and human rights abuses, Tower said many Chinese firms have continued to operate in Myanmar or even entered the country, reflected by the fact that four new Chinese chambers of commerce have opened in that time.