CNPC and Myanmar Energy Ministry on Friday signed a memo on the development, operation and management of the Sino-Myanmar crude oil pipeline in Beijing, suggesting the pipeline's construction is entering full swing.

The memo said CNPC would be responsible for design, construction, operation and management of the crude oil pipeline.

According to the memo, the Sino-Myanmar crude oil pipeline project has a designed transportation capacity of 22 million tons/year. The oil will begin its journey via the pipeline in Kyaukryu Port on the west coast of Myanmar, enter China at Ruili, a Chinese border city in Yunnan province and then travel to its final destination of Kunming city, the capital of Yunnan province. To facilitate in the transportation process, a large crude oil wharf and crude oil storage tanks are being constructed at the port of Kyaukryu.

Earlier reports said the Sino-Myanmar oil pipeline, 1,100 kilometers long, would mainly pump crude oil from the Middle East and Africa. As planned, Myanmar would build a 300,000-dwt crude port and an oil tank with a storage capacity of 600,000 cubic meters.

According to the agreement signed in March 2009 between China and Myanmar, a natural gas pipeline will also be laid parallel to the oil pipeline. The natural gas pipeline is designed to have a length of 2,806 kilometers and an annual transportation volume of 1.2 billion cubic meters.

CNPC is parent of PetroChina.

Copyright 2009 Xinhua News Agency