China-Myanmar oil pipeline starts flowing

Test runs have begun on the pipeline which cost $1.5bn to build over five years

China and Myanmar (Burma) have started test runs on a controversial new oil pipeline linking a deep-water port on Myanmar’s Indian Ocean coast with the city of Kunming in southwest China.  The 440,000 barrel a day (b/d) pipeline traverses a so-call energy corridor 771 km from the Madae Island Port on Myanmar’s coast through the country and into markets in southwestern China, where a number of new refineries are being built. It runs parallel to a natural gas pipeline, which started up in 2013, which carries gas from Myanmar’s offshore Shwe field along the same route.  The pipeline, 50.9% owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and 40.1% owned by Myanmar’s Oil and Gas Enterprise (