Myanmar: New China-Myanmar Oil Pipeline Bypasses Malacca Trap

Jan 30, 2015 | The Hindu
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China has taken a firm step to beef up its energy security by inaugurating a pipeline that will bring crude oil from a deepwater port in Myanmar, along a transit route that will bypass the strategic Malacca Straits.The first tanker that will offload 300,000 tons of oil is expected to arrive on Friday at Maday Island – a deep water port developed by China in the Bay of Bengal. From there, oil, mostly brought from West Asia and Africa, will be pumped into a 2402-kilometre long pipeline that will stretch for 771 kilometres in Myanmar and another 1631 kilometres in China. A gas pipeline, next to the Maday Island terminal, already runs from Myanmar’s port of Kyaukpyu. China also finalised plans to establish a rail corridor from Kyaukpyu to its Yunnan province.The strategic oil pipeline will service China’s two major growth centres — Kunming and Chongqing, an industrial hub along the Yangtze River delta. Both cities are pivotal in the development of China’s Silk Road Economic Belt the 21st century Maritime Silk Road.