2010-06-04 14:38

BEIJING - China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, said Friday work had started on construction of two oil and gas pipelines between China and Myanmar.

In a statement posted on its website, the CNPC said Southeast Asia Pipeline Company, one of its affiliates, was put in charge of the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the pipelines.

As a controlling shareholder, Southeast Asia Pipeline Company had signed the deal with the Myanmar National Oil and Gas Company Thursday in Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw.

Each with an overall length of about 1,100 kilometers, the gas and oil pipelines are both expected to run from the Kyaukpyu port on Myanmar's west coast and enter China at Ruili, Yunnan Province.

The oil pipeline has a designed transport capacity of 22 million tonnes per year, while the natural gas pipeline has a designed transport capacity of 12 billion cubic meters annually, according to the statement.

The statement did not say when the project would be finished.