Puma Energy International, the fuel retail and storage company spun off from commodity trader Trafigura Pte Ltd., is building a $100 million facility in Myanmar and seeking other deals in the once-isolated Asian country that’s opening to more foreign investment after elections this month.
The storage tank facilities for bitumen and petroleum products at Thilawa Port, 23 kilometers (14 miles) south of the capital, Rangoon, will have a capacity of about 97,000 cubic meters. Based in Singapore and with major operations in Geneva, Puma is the first foreign company granted permission to build oil storage facilities in Myanmar, Chief Financial Officer Denis Chazarain said in an interview.
“It is a really promising market,” he said of Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation that suffered a half-century of isolation under a military junta. Puma is targeting potential retail service station deals as well as lubricants, marine fuel and wholesale markets, he added.
Puma is one of 11 foreign companies that have applied for a government tender to form a joint-venture with state-owned Myanma Petrochemical Products Enterprise for a liquid petroleum gas distribution business. LPG is a staple fuel used for cooking in Myanmar, positioned on a potentially key trade route between China and India.
“Puma Energy is interested in all segments of the market in Myanmar,” Chazarain said.
Myanmar’s voters last week handed Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party an overwhelming majority, giving her a free hand to choose the next president and push through legislation. Investors and foreign companies, including Puma, are seeking details of the Nobel laureate’s plan to attract investment needed to spur economic growth, create jobs and boost wages. The nation’s military still controls two of the nation’s biggest conglomerates, which invest in everything from mining to banking.