2023 China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline project

We will talk about 2022 China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline project. According to Myanmar’s foreign direct investment (FDI) and export value, natural gas production is an important sector in Myanmar. In 2007, it accounted for 90% of all foreign direct investment (FDI) and Business.

It accounts for 45% of the total export value. According to the Central Bank of Thailand, Myanmar’s natural gas export revenue rose from US $ 2,700 million in 2007 to US $ 3,500 million in 2008.

The new “Shwe Gas Project” expected to raise revenue to US $ 24,000 million, which is likely to continue for another 20 years for the junta. Independent agencies are not allowed to monitor the revenues from the oil and gas sector.

Myanmar’s government accounts are also denominated in kyat at official exchange rates. The official exchange rate is calculated to be 200 times higher than the outside price. As a result, most of the revenue cannot be tracked and there is no reason to know how it is being used.

For this reason, Transparency International ranks Myanmar as the second most corrupt government in the world. The Sino-Burmese cross-border oil and gas pipeline project is a major project that connects Myanmar’s western coast of Rakhine State through northeastern Shan State to western China.

Therefore, the two pipelines include an oil and gas pipeline and a total length of nearly 800 km (500 miles) in Myanmar. Rakhine State Mandalay Region It passes through 22 townships in Magway Region and Shan State. The total cost of the two pipelines is over US $ 2.45 billion.

A. Oil pipeline

The pipeline project is a joint venture between the Myanmar state-owned Oil and Gas Enterprise and the Chinese state-owned China National Oil Corporation. This pipeline will cost more than US $ 1.5 billion and is expected to export 22 million tonnes of oil a year. The pipeline is 771 km (480 miles) long and currently carries 16,000 tonnes of crude oil daily. According to the Shwe Gas Movement, There are three sub-offices in Kyaukse and Hsipaw (according to government data, there are five sub-offices in Kyaukphyu, Magway, Mandalay and Hsipaw. The details need to confirm).

B. Gas pipeline

The gas pipeline project is a joint venture between four countries, Myanmar and China, along with Korea and India. The pipeline cost nearly US $ 1.04 billion. ရေ နံ ချာင်း၊ There are branch offices in Taungtha and Mandalay, which are 793 km (nearly 500 miles) long. Therefore, it expects to export 12 billion cubic meters of gas annually. It supplies 400 million cubic meters of natural gas daily.

The company estimates that the Myanmar government’s total annual revenue for these projects will US $ 1.5 billion, but it is not yet know how much it will actually benefit. In 2010, Myanmar Oil and Gas borrowed ဒသမ 86.16 million from the China Development Bank for pipeline projects. Of the loans, a total of  103.64 million in interest owed. The Ministry of Power and Energy said that the current period is still a repayment period and no profit made yet. Deputy Minister Dr Tun Naing He was speaking at a meeting of the Pyithu Hluttaw in June.

Myanmar government (2022 China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline project)

The Myanmar government will receive US $ 13.81 million (right-of-way payments) annually for the project, as well as a transit fee of US $ 1 per tonne for crude oil.

It also agreed to buy 2 million tonnes of oil and 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. To date, the Burmese government has not officially disclosed how much it is buying from the oil and gas project.

Currently, two oil and gas pipelines export about 400 million cubic feet of natural gas to China daily and 16,000 tons of oil daily, while Myanmar consumes around 100 million cubic feet of natural gas daily.

China National Petroleum Corporation According to a July statement, the Sino-Burmese oil pipeline has so far exported more than 19 million tonnes of oil and more than 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China. 2019 In the first six months, more than 5 million tons of oil exported to China through the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline. Compared with the first six months, it is up 2.7 percent, according to the Kunming Customs Department in Yunnan Province.

2019 In the first six months, 1.68 million tonnes of natural gas exported from the China-Myanmar gas pipeline, with a total value of 5.89 billion yuan. 2018 Compared to the first six months, natural gas exports fell 2.3 percent.

Therefore, Myanmar first built a transnational pipeline to export natural gas to Thailand in 1998. This is the second Sino-Myanmar pipeline project.

C. China’s strategic thinking (2022 China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline project)

The pipeline project is one of four strategic projects in the region that are meeting China’s energy hunger. The other three are the Russia-China oil pipeline; Central Asia Natural Gas Pipeline; And a gas pipeline across the Strait of Malacca.

The 2,520-kilometer (over 1,500-mile) pipeline project between China and Myanmar will meet the energy needs of southwestern China, one of China’s least developed regions.

The pipeline project will reduce China’s coal consumption by an estimated 30.72 million tonnes a year. In addition, it will reduce the length of transport for oil exports from the Middle East to China. It will avoid the dangerous Straits of Malacca and the disputed South China Sea.

Therefore, Yunnan University in early 2004 under the military government for the pipeline project. Three professors from the Department of International Relations (Li Chenyang, Qu Jianwen and Wu Lei) visited Rakhine State. From Sittwe to Yunnan Province; Is it possible to connect pipelines to Kunming? Research started to find out.

Yunnan Provincial Government (2022 China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline project)

The People’s Republic of China, through the Yunnan Provincial Government. They presented their findings to the Consulting Office. The three professors presented five points on the construction of the Sino-Burmese oil and gas pipeline.

(1) Avoiding the strait of the Strait of Malacca. The world’s most congested waterway and the frequent sinking of cargo ships;

(2) The pipeline will have a maximum length of 1,200 km (750 miles). As a result, it pass through the Strait of Malacca to China. Shorter than the oil export route to the southwest;

(3) Expenditure on the construction of the pipeline would limit the influence of other countries on Myanmar. The pipeline would divide Myanmar from west to northeast and transform Myanmar into a strategic intermediary for China.

(4) Historically and in relation to the situation between the two countries. Therefore, the security of the pipeline can guarantee;

(5) The cost of the pipeline to built in Myanmar will lower than other possible options. As an agreement reached to build a 500 km (over 300 miles) long railway line between Sittwe and Kunming.