Thread: China starts building Burma pipeline

China starts building Burma pipeline
Tuesday, 03 November, 2009

China's CNPC started building a crude port in Burma on 31 October, the China Petroleum Daily reported today, part of a pipeline project aimed at cutting out the long detour oil cargoes take through the congested Malacca Strait.

The reported commencement of construction took place at least a month later than scheduled in earlier plans reported by China's state media.

The port on Maday Island, Kyaukphyu Township in Burma's Rakhine state was the starting point for the 771-kilometre pipeline that would have a capacity of 12 million tonnes per year or 240,000 barrels per day in its first phase, the report said.

It did not say when the port facility would be ready for use or when the pipeline would be built.

CNPC also plans a gas pipeline from Burma with capacity of 12 billion cubic metres a year, scheduled to carry natural gas to south-western China in 2012.

Burma activists have called for China to halt construction of the controversial pipelines, warning of instability and civil unrest if Myanmar's ruling junta continues to starve its people of energy.

CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, operates most of its domestic businesses via listed PetroChina, while keeping politically-sensitive overseas businesses in its own hand.

China, the world's second-largest oil user, has been keen to diversify its oil import routes, concerned about supply security. Around three quarters of China's oil imports in 2008 were from the Middle East and Africa and most cargos were shipped through the pirate-laden Malacca Strait.

A crude pipeline with an initial capacity of 200,000 bpd started sending oil from Kazakhstan to China's north-west in 2006. A second transnational oil pipeline with a capacity of 300,000 bpd is under construction and expected to pump oil from Russia to northeastern China from late 2010, reported Reuters.

upstreamonline.com

Weekly Business Roundup (November 7, 2009)
WILLIAM BOOT

French Firm among Developers Moving into Shwe Gas Field

More foreign companies, including a French engineering specialist, have been hired to begin the multibillion dollar development of Burma’s Shwe offshore gas field.

A consortium led by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries has secured a US $1.4 billion contract from main project controller Daewoo International to build and install a huge 40,000-tonne well platform and pipelines, plus a port terminal.

Hyundai’s chief partner will be Paris-based DORIS Engineering, an offshore gas development specialist.

In addition, the Indian government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), a partner of Daewoo, has disclosed it will invest about $174 million in the Shwe development.

Indian media this week quoted unnamed onGC officials as saying the firm will use its investment for gas production and marketing.

ONGC and another state-owned firm, GAIL, have a combined stake in the Shwe project of more than 20 percent under main shareholder Daewoo, which disclosed recently that a total of $3.2 billion will be spent on bringing the Shwe gas ashore.

India had hoped to buy most of the 200 billion cubic meters in two blocks of the Shwe field, but the Burmese government awarded virtually all of it to the Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation.



China Confirms its Plan to use Burma as a Mideast Oil Conduit

The state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) says it has begun constructing an oil pipeline which will run for nearly 800 kilometers through Burma from the Arakan coast to the Chinese province of Yunnan.

Announcement of building work comes as the Chinese state-controlled media also for the first time confirmed that China is constructing an oil transshipment port on Ramree Island in Arakan State.

Beijing claimed that CNPC had “started building” the deep-draft port at Kyaukphyu, when in fact the terminal has been under construction for some time and is reported to be well on the way to completion.

The pipeline will be capable of transporting up to 12 million tonnes of crude oil a year, or 240,000 barrels per day, reported the Chinese official news agency Xinhua.

This also marks the first time that China has confirmed it is using Burmese territory as a short-cut conduit to transit oil supplies from the Middle East and Africa.

The formal announcement comes just days after a coordinated petition campaign by scores of human rights group left protest letters at Chinese embassies in Asia, Australia and Europe urging he Chinese government not to build oil and gas pipelines through Burma.

It was said the groups are “gravely concerned” for communities living along the pipeline routes, citing past examples of abuse by the Burmese military when such projects are developed.

irrawaddy.org

China’s ‘Business Special’ Train Route into Northern Burma
WILLIAM BOOT
Saturday, November 21, 2009

Proposals by China to finance a railway 100 kilometers into northern Burma appear to be part of Beijing’s efforts to link its landlocked southwestern regions with the sea.

The Chinese are negotiating to build the train route from the Jiegao trading zone on the border at Ruili down to Lashio, the main town in Burma’s Shan State.

A dilapidated railway already links Lashio with the key port of Rangoon in Burma’s south.

Chinese transport ministry officials have visited Burma to discuss the new train line, according to news agency report quoting the Yangon Times.

Ruili is a rough wild west town which has become a transit point for both legal and illegal business in Burma for many Chinese.

In April this year, China pledged infrastructure aid totaling US $39 million for roads and railways in Burma and Laos—money which will also benefit China’s trade links to the sea.

irrawaddy.org

Gas ‘Demand’ in Burma to Double as Fuel Piped Abroad
WILLIAM BOOT
Saturday, November 21, 2009

The state Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) has confirmed that only about 160 million cubic feet a day (c.f.d.) of gas from two major new production fields will go towards easing Burma’s acute power shortage.

At the same time, MOGE admitted that Burma’s domestic gas “demand” from consumers will more than double, from 200 million c.f.d to 500 million c.f.d. No timetable was given.

The figures were presented at an international oil and gas industry conference led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Bangkok this week.

The 160 million c.f.d. will come from the 800 million c.f.d forecast to flow from new gas blocks being developed in the Shwe field in the Bay of Bengal and the Zawtika block in the Gulf of Martaban.

Most of the gas, to be produced from 2013, will be sold to China and Thailand.

Burma’s gas exports “earned the country” US $1.2 billion in the first five months of the current financial year which began in April, according to Rangoon’s Myanmar Times.

Human rights and democracy groups allege that most of this money is pocketed by the military regime and secreted in bank accounts outside Burma.

irrawaddy.org

^

also has the added benefit of supplying immunity from a Malacca Straits blockage ..........................

Indeed. There is one catch though. The Chinese will be in a position where they will have to make sure relations are kept on a "friendly" basis with the countries where the land crossings reside. The Russians problems with gas pipeline via the Ukraine come to mind.

suspect the Junta feel they have the upper hand , doubt the deal would have been done else wise .................

Originally Posted by Mid

suspect the Junta feel they have the upper hand

For now but they are not dealing with babes in the woods. Dealing with China carries some big potential risk to the junta.

Dealing with China carries some big potential risk to the junta.

there's an elephant in the room fur sur ..............

doubt the west would allow a Chinese annexation of Burma so their actual threat maybe perceived rather than actual ?

Annexation no option but once all the infrastructure they need is in place the Chinese may decide it is in their best interest to support a "democratically" elected government in Burma.

The fucking frogs will do anything for money, won't they.

Bastards.

support a "democratically" elected government

your right of course , but hell we've seen that before , never as a successful long term option .

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The fucking frogs will do anything for money, won't they.

They will but they are not the only ones. The multinationals doing business in Burma are many. When it comes to making money, all suddenly lose any sense of moral obligation.

Swiber to lay Myanmar gas lines
Published: Nov 25, 2009
Offshore staff

SINGAPORE -- Swiber Holdings has won its first pipeline installation contract offshore Myanmar. An unnamed oil and gas company has issued a Letter of Award valued at $77 million for laying of 150 km (93 mi) of subsea gas pipelines.

Preparation for the project should get under way next month, with the installation program due to be completed in 2Q 2010.

Swiber is expanding its vessel pool, in anticipation of increased demand for offshore construction work. The fleet currently comprises 34 offshore vessels and 10 construction vessels, and Swiber expects to own and operate a total of 52 vessels by 2011.

offshore-mag.com

FACTBOX - Pipelines from Myanmar to China
Sources: Chinese state media, Shwe Gas Movement (Shwe Campaign Site — Shwe Gas Movement), Human Rights Watch.
(Writing by Ben Blanchard and Chen Aizhu; editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Sanjeev Miglani)
Wed Feb 3, 2010

Reuters - China will soon start receiving oil and gas through two controversial pipelines which run through military-ruled Myanmar.

Here are some facts about the pipelines:

WHAT THE PIPELINES WILL CARRY

One pipeline will carry oil from the Middle East and Africa, which will be offloaded from tankers at a Myanmar port and then piped into China, so avoiding the narrow Malacca Strait.

It will take 12 million tonnes of crude oil a year into China, roughly 6 percent of China's total imports last year, or about as much as the country imported from Sudan, its fifth largest supplier. There is no exact date for its opening yet.

The other pipeline will have capacity to bring 12 billion cubic metres of Myanmar gas every year into China, and is expected to come online within the next two years.

WHERE THE PIPELINES WILL BE LAID THROUGH

Both pipelines will start from the Myanmar port of Kyauk Phyu in the western state of Rakhine (also known as Arakan), then head in a northeasterly direction towards the city of Mandalay before arriving in the Chinese border town of Ruili in southwestern Yunnan province.

From there the pipelines go to Yunnan provincial capital Kunming and eventually on to the cities of Chongqing and Nanning.

WHICH COMPANIES ARE INVOLVED

CNPC, China's top oil and gas producer, is the main Chinese firm involved in the project. The firm does much of its business via listed PetroChina, while keeping politically-sensitive overseas operations in its own hand.

PetroChina is at an early stage of planning a 200,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Kunming to process oil from the Myanmar pipeline.

State-run Gail India will pick up a 4 percent stake in the refinery (?) and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), will take another 8-8.5 percent, Indian media reported last month.

Other partners in the blocks, operated by South Korea's Daewoo International, are Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise, and Korea Gas Corp.

THE COST OF THE PROJECTS AND PROJECTED REVENUES

The Shwe Gas Movement, which is campaigning against the pipelines, estimates the total cost of the oil and gas pipes at $3.5 billion. The development of the offshore fields for the gas component will cost more than $3 billion.

But sales of the gas alone will generate more than $29 billion for the Myanmar government over the next three decades, they say, an important source of income for the sanctions-hit government.

WHY THE PIPELINES ARE CONTROVERSIAL

Rights groups say the people of Myanmar will see little of the money from the pipelines, with profits likely filtered away by the military government for their own purposes, like buying arms.

Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in the world, suffers from serious energy shortages of its own.

Rights groups also point to land confiscations to make way for the pipelines, and worry that the Myanmar military will resort to forced labour to construct the pipelines, as it has done in the past for similar projects.

in.reuters.com

Thanks for the updates, Middy!

Burma’s gas scourge
Monday, 19 April 2010

Vast gas desposits off the coast of western Burma have proven a curse for the thousands of people deemed by the ruling junta to be standing in the way of its development.

The construction of a multi-billion dollar pipeline connecting the Bay of Bengal gas fields to southwestern China has caused militarisation and displacement on an alarming scale, as the army looks to ’secure’ the route and thus the capital generated from what is known as the Shwe Gas Project, little of which will benefit Burmese people.

Rights groups have warned of “systematic” and “shocking” human rights violations along the pipeline’s trajectory that include forced labour and forced displacement.

Yet the Burmese government continues to aggressively expand its energy sector, with the vast majority of produce siphoned off to neighbouring countries.

This, despite Burma suffering from daily power shortages.

dvb.no

Myanmar to construct railroad to link deep-sea port with China
October 17, 2010

Myanmar has planned to construct a railroad that will link a deep-sea port, Kyaukphyu, in western Rakhine state with Kunming, southwest of China, the local Weekly Eleven News reported Saturday.

The Kyaukphyu-Kunming railroad, which is part of the Kyaukphyu- Ruili platform project and national railroad network, is targeted to be finished in 2015.

The railroad will pass through Rakhine State, Magway Region, Mandalay Region and Shan State in Myanmar, the report said.

The railroad project is divided into such sections as Kyaukphyu- Eann-Minbu, Minbu-Magway-Mandalay-Lashio-Muse and Muse-Jiegao trans-border railroad.

After the project is implemented, Myanmar's Shan State and China's Yunnan province can be connected directly and the railroad will mainly facilitate the goods flow from China, the report said, adding that Magway and Mandalay regions will then become the main business towns.

Meanwhile, China has also planned to invest in a special industrial zone to be established in Kyaukphyu.

Source: Xinhua

english.people.com.cn

It's a terrible shame that these cruel, rich, selfish bastards are allowed to steal all the profits of their countrys national resources from their own people.

That's enough about Saudi, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran, et al.

As for them bloody Burmese military types......

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The fucking frogs will do anything for money, won't they.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

It's a terrible shame that these cruel, rich, selfish bastards are allowed to steal all the profits of their countrys national resources from their own people.

That's enough about Saudi, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran, et al.

As for them bloody Burmese military types......

Get the USA to offer to democratise the country with their military.

Get the the Russians to offer to build the port/pipeline and then take 25 years to do it al la the Iranian nuclear facility.

Get some western bank to finance the deal and bankrupt the country.

The Chinese alternative; design, construct, manage, finance and pay a commission for its use seems a better option.

For the Chinese it gives a shorter, cheaper and less exposed route for its energy needs.

China loans Burma 2.4 billion dollars for gas pipeline project

Rangoon - China has signed a 2.4-billion-dollar loan agreemen twith Burma to finance the construction of a natural gas pipeline between the countries, media reports said Sunday.

The loan was inked between the China Develoment Bank Cooperation and Burma Foreign Investment Bank on November 30 in Napyitaw, the new capital, the Myanmar Times reported.

The pipeline is to run from Rakhine State on the Burmese coast, site of the Kyauk Phyu national gas project, to Yunnan province in southern China.
"The loan will be mainly for the natural gas project in Kyauk Phyu, which involves Myanmar, China, Korea and India, where Burma has 7.3 per cent of the shares," said Jin Honggen, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Rangoon.

He said the loan would help bring speed up construction of the project. Under the Burmar-China gas scheme, India is to help build a new port in Sithwe, Rakhine, to handle gas from offshore reserves and China will construct a 1,000-kilometre pipeline to deliver the gas overland to Yunnan.

"The natural gas from Burma will be used for Yunnan province's industrial requirements and for residential use," Jin told the MyanmarTimes.

Military-run Burma currently exports more than 1 billion cubic feet of gas (28 million cubic metres) a day of natural gas from its two offshore projects in the Gulf of Marthaban to neighbouring Thailand via an underwater and overland pipeline network.

Thailand pays a estimated 2 billion dollars a year for the gas imports.//DPA

nationmultimedia.com

CNPC, Qingdao Port ink deal for Myanmar pipeline
(Reporting by Judy Hua and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ed Lane)

BEIJING Jan 11 (Reuters) - China's top oil and gas firm CNPC and Qingdao Port Group have signed a framework agreement on operating a wharf for the China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline, media said on Tuesday.

The China Petroleum Daily gave no details on the deal, though it said part of the work on the wharf in Myanmar where the oil will be unloaded had been finished in November.

The pipeline was another important energy import means for China, the report said, adding it was a "golden bridge of friendship between China and Myanmar."

The crude oil pipeline will have a total capacity of 22 million tonnes a year, while an accompanying gas pipeline will have a capacity of 12 billion cubic metre (bcm), said the newspaper, which is run by CNPC.

Both pipelines will start from the Myanmar port of Kyauk Phyu in the western state of Rakhine (also known as Arakan), then head in a northeasterly direction towards the city of Mandalay before arriving in the Chinese border town of Ruili in southwestern Yunnan province.

From there the pipelines go to Yunnan provincial capital Kunming and eventually on to the cities of Chongqing and Nanning.

CNPC, the parent of PetroChina , said in September it planned to complete the China section of pipelines from the former Burma and a related refinery by 2013, putting the pipeline a year behind schedule. [ID:nTOE68903P]

The projects will help diversify China's energy import routes, cutting its dependence on shipments via the potentially risky Malacca Strait, through which some 80 percent of the country's oil imports now pass. [ID:nTOE60D08W]

China calls this the "Malacca Strait dilemma", fearing that during a conflict, a hostile power could choke off energy supplies that are taken on supertankers through the narrow strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.

af.reuters.com

Zawtika gas project opens temporary base camp
Ko Wild
Tuesday, 01 February 2011

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Zawtika natural gas project, a joint venture by the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and the state-owned PTTEP Oil Company of Thailand, opened a temporary base camp and office on January 22.


photo : MOGE

The opening ceremony of the administrative offices of the Zawtika project, which is in Block M-9 in the Gulf of Martaban offshore oilfield, was held near Kanbauk village in Yayphyu Township in Tanintharyi Division.

Energy Minister Lun Thi, the CEO of PTTEP, Anon Sirisaengtaksin, and foreign representatives attended, according to The New Light of Myanmar, a state-controlled newspaper. The camp includes residential areas, offices and meeting rooms.

PTTEP controls the oil and gas exploration concessions in M3, M4, M7, M9 and M11 in the Martaban gulf.

Thai Energy Minister Wannarat Chamnukul told The Nation newspaper, the gas reserve in the M9 Block is estimated at 1.4 trillion cubic metres and daily production will be about 300 million cubic feet. Of that, about 240 million cubic feet will be exported to Thailand daily and the remaining 60 million cubic feet will be used in Burma.

Joint production work will start in 2013 and the reserves are expected to produce gas for up to 30 years, according to the joint agreement.

PTTEP is exploring and producing oil and gas in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Australia and New Zealand.

The trade value between Thailand and Burma reached US$ 3.5 billion in 2009-10 fiscal year, a 16 percent increase over the 2008-09 fiscal year, according to official figures. Most of the trade is in the energy sector.

Beginning in 1998, Burmese gas reserves in the Yadana gas fields in the Gulf of Martaban began earning Burma money from foreign oil and gas companies including PTTEP, the French company, Total, and the US company, Chevron. A report by the US-based Earth Rights International in 2010 said that as much as half of the oil and gas earnings were deposited in private accounts in Singapore and China by Burmese generals.

Meanwhile, the junta has just signed a large investment and loan agreement, The New Light of Myanmar reported on January 28. It said a loan agreement with the Export Import Bank of China and the Finance and Revenue Ministry was signed on January 27 to fund construction work on the Naypyidaw International Airport Project Phase 2.

The signing ceremony was attended by SPDC Secretary (1) Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, the National Planning and Economic Development Minister Soe Tha and Finance and Revenue Minister Hla Tun.

The loan is part of a package that SPDC Chairman Than Shwe received from Chinese President Hu Jintao during a five-day visit in September 2010, granting Burma a loan of Chinese RMB 30 billion (US$ 4.2 billion) bearing no interest.

China and Burma are cooperating on many energy projects in Burma including hydropower projects and oil and gas pipeline projects which will transport oil and gas from Rakhine State on the western Burmese coast to Yunnan Province in southwest China.

mizzima.com

half of the oil and gas earnings were deposited in private accounts in Singapore and China by Burmese generals.



How many Generals are ther in Myanmar