China-Myanmar oil/gas pipelines start building Chinese section in Anning, Yunnan

KUNMING, Sep. 10, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- The China-Myanmar oil and gas pipelines formally started Chinese section construction Friday in the Chinese section at Anning city of Southwest China's Yunnan province, while the major supporting facility, a 10-million-metric ton/year oil refinery in the city, also broke ground on the same day.

The construction, which will be completed in 2013, comes after the formal start of the Myanmar section in June 2010.

The China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline is designed with an annual transportation capacity of 22 million metric tons, while the natural gas pipeline is to form 12 billion cubic meters of annual capacity.

The natural gas pipeline has a total length of 2,500 kilometers, including 793 kilometers in Myanmar and 1,727 kilometers in China, while the crude oil pipeline is about 2,402 kilometers long with 771 kilometers of Myanmar section and 1,631 kilometers of Chinese section.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's largest oil and gas producer and parent of PetroChina (PTR.NYSE; 601857.SH; 0857.HK), serves as the designer, builder, operator and maintainer of the pipelines and the refinery.

After the completion, the pipelines will transport crude oil and natural gas from the Middle East and Africa to avoid the risky Strait of Malacca with rampant pirate activities. It is also part of China's efforts to diversify its energy import channels. (Edited by Qiu Jun, Qiujun@xinhua.org)

Source:http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4486821