Myanmar pipeline gives China faster supply of oil from Middle East

A crude oil pipeline to southwestern China through its neighbour Myanmar began operations after years of delays, allowing the world’s second-biggest oil user to receive supplies faster from the Middle East and Africa.

A Suezmax-sized tanker, which can hold 140,000 tonnes (about 1 million barrels) of crude, began offloading oil for the pipeline on Monday at Myanmar’s Made Island, according to Xinhua. Operations on the line, which was completed in 2014 and originally scheduled to start the same year, were beginning after the government of Myanmar agreed to lower transit fees, Wang Dongjin, the president of PetroChina, said last month.

The link, which allows China to import crude from the Middle East and Africa without having to ship through the Strait of Malacca and into the South China Sea, is part of President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” infrastructure and trade development plan stretching across Asia to Africa and Europe.

“It may send a message to those countries that are still hesitating about whether to participate that the initiative is China’s top national strategy and can bring economic benefits to participants,” said Fan Hongwei, an international relations professor at Xiamen University.

Trial operations began in 2015 on the 771km pipeline, which is designed to carry 22 million tonnes of crude a year. Myanmar could take 2 million tonnes annually from it, Xinhua said.