Shwe Pipeline Construction Starts in China

China’s state-owned Petro China has begun work on the Yunnan Province section of the Burma-China gas pipeline in Anning City, Yunnan Province, energy sector news provider Argus reports. The pipeline, also called the Shwe Gas and Oil Pipeline, extends from Arakan State port town Kyaukpyu to the Yunnan capital Kunming, and will form a strategic energy supply route for China when it comes online in mid 2013. Construction of the US $2 billion project began in Kyaukpyu in 2009. The project has been criticized in Burma as it was approved by the former military regime and few benefits are going to local communities. Project construction has also been put at risk by recent inter-communal violence in Arakan State.