The construction of pipelines that will transport oil and gas to China via Myanmar will begin in full swing in September, an insider from PetroChina said Tuesday.

The project will open the fourth route for China's oil and nature gas imports, after ocean shipping, the Sino-Kazakhstan crude oil and natural gas pipelines, and the Sino-Russian oil pipeline, according to the insider, who declined to be named.

According to an agreement signed in March 2009 between the Chinese and Myanmar governments, 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 China's Yunnan province.

The 1,100-kilometer oil pipeline will end in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province. It is expected to transfer 20 million tonnes 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 kilometers. It is expected to transport 12 billion cubic meters of gas to China every year.

The Sino-Myanmar gas pipeline will further increase China's gas import, which is projected to exceed 100 billion cubic meters over the next few years.

Compared with ocean shipping, the oil pipeline can reduce the transport route by 1,200 kilometers, experts said. What's more import, it will reduce China's reliance on the Straits of Malacca for oil import.

China has imported more than 10 million tonnes of crude oil through the Sino-Kazakhstan oil pipeline, which was put into service in 2006. Sino-Russian oil pipeline is also expected to put into use by the end of 2010.

Source:Xinhua