Interra Resources Ltd on Thursday asked for its shares to be suspended from trading on Singapore’s stock exchange after Finance Uncovered and activist group Justice for Myanmar revealed it had supplied millions of barrels of oil to Myanmar’s military.

The investigation, published last week, showed that Interra’s Myanmar joint venture has provided more than 2.3 million barrels of oil to the military junta since it seized power in a 2021 coup, plunging the country into civil war.

The oil, worth more than US$150 million, was refined at a junta-controlled processing facility that made diesel and aviation fuel for the military as it carried out a brutal campaign of war crimes against civilians.

Within two days of the investigation being published by FU and JFM, the regulators of the Singapore exchange (SGX) contacted Interra with questions about its Myanmar operations, Interra revealed in a statement today.

“As the Company requires more time to prepare the responses to the SGX Queries, the Company will be requesting for a trading suspension of its securities with immediate effect,” it said.

Myanmar’s military has been accused of committing widespread atrocities against civilians as it battles armed groups around the country, killing thousands of people and displacing millions. Air strikes have hit schools, destroyed displacement camps and razed entire communities in what the UN says is a campaign of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Interra’s joint venture, Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company Inc, is one of the few oil companies still operating in Myanmar amid the violence. In 2022, its oil accounted for around 40 percent of the entire country’s production, according to FU and JFM’s calculations.

All of Goldpetrol’s oil was supplied to the junta-controlled Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is sanctioned by the EU and US, then sent to be processed at the Mann refinery, which makes gasoline, high-speed diesel and aviation fuel for the military.

As a Singapore-based company, Interra is not subject to these sanctions. However, SGX has rules allowing it to suspend companies that would violate international sanctions and it has previously taken action against another company that did business with Myanmar’s military.

Asked for comment on the investigation, Interra said it had continued to supply oil to MOGE after the junta seized power because it had to fulfil its “contractual obligations”.

On Thursday, Interra said the suspension of its shares “should not be taken to imply that there has been any wrong-doing on the part of the Company”.

It added: “The Company will request for the lifting of the trading suspension when there is clarity on the matters raised in the SGX Queries.”

* Main image: Goldpetrol oil wells in Myanmar which are 60% owned by Interra (Source: Facebook)