UPDATE 1-China to build Myanmar oil, gas lines from Sept-media

BEIJING, June 16 - China will start building oil and gas pipelines through Myanmar in September that would enable it to import crude oil more quickly from the Middle East and Africa, state media reported on Tuesday.

The oil and gas pipelines would help China cut by 1,200 kilometres (746 miles) the long detour through the congested Malacca Strait as well as strengthen its access to rich energy reserves in Myanmar.

China is one of the closest allies of its neighbour Myanmar, whose military junta conducts relatively little trade with the rest of the world.

Maung Aye, the vice chairman of Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council met Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing on Tuesday, thanking him for Chinese assistance and pledging Myanmar's support for mainland China's claims to Taiwan and Tibet, the Xinhua news agency said.

"The section of the pipelines in Myanmar will be built under the name of CNPC but whether CNPC or PetroChina undertakes the construction of the domestic section has not been decided," the China Securities Journal said, citing an unnamed CNPC official.

CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, operates most of its domestic businesses via listed PetroChina.

The 400,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude oil pipe would run about 1,100 kilometres from a deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu Township in Myanmar's Rakhine State to China's Kunming before extending to Guizhou and Chongqing municipality.

The gas line, with transportation capacity of 12 billion cubic metres a year, is projected to ship in natural gas to Kunming, capital of southwestern China's Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, in 2012, the report said.

The pipe, with total length of 2,806 kilometres, will extend to Guizhou province and end in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi region.