Yangon: Security concerns will delay the first shipments of oil and gas from the Myanmar coast to China through a new pipeline.
Construction of the 793 km pipeline will be completed by the end of May, according to Li Zilin, vice chairman of South East Asia Gas Pipeline Company, a conglomerate of Chinese and Myanmar companies.
“Technically the gas pipeline is ready, but I’m not just sure when the situation along its route will allow it to operate,” a senior Energy Ministry official told a newswire.
Recent clashes between government forces and ethnic militia fighters in Shan state, as well as “fierce fighting” with the Kachin Independence Army in Kachin, a northern state that borders China, have delayed the start of the pipeline’s operations.
As well as taking gas from Myanmar the pipeline is a potential game changer in the international tanker trades as it will allow Chinese tankers to cut short their journeys from the Middle East, offloading oil in Myanmar rather than continuing through to Singapore and round to China. [13/05/13]
