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Work on Myanmar oil, gas pipeline to begin in September

By Xiao Wan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-17 08:06

Construction of pipelines that will transport oil and gas to China via Myanmar will begin this September, according its builder PetroChina.

Analysts said that the project would open the fourth route for China's oil and natural gas imports, after ocean shipping, the Sino-Kazakhstan crude oil and natural gas pipelines, and the Sino-Russian oil pipeline.

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The oil and natural gas pipelines will run in parallel. Both will start in Kyaukryu port on the west coast of Myanmar and enter China at the border city of Ruili in Yunnan province.

The 1,100-km oil pipeline will end in Kunming, capital of Yunnan. It is expected to transfer 20 million tons of crude oil to China from the Middle East and Africa annually. The natural gas pipeline will extend further from Kunming to Guizhou province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, running a total of 2,806 km. It is expected to transport 12 billion cu m of gas to China every year.

Under a three-year plan (2009-11) chalked out by the National Energy Administration, China will speed up construction of a series of oil and gas pipelines to increase transmission capacity. Several key projects, such as the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline and the Lanzhou-Zhengzhou-Changsha refined oil pipeline will get specific attention.

Oil and gas pipelines are safer and more economical and convenient than other transportation methods, said Han Xiaoping, a veteran analyst in Beijing. China will see "booming development" in the sector in the next few years.

Xinhua contributed to the story