The Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline is now delivering hydrocarbons produced from the Bay of Bengal, offshore Myanmar, to China. The soon-to-be complete, parallel oil pipeline will transport Middle East and African oil. The pipeline projects have five investors from four countries: China, Myanmar, South Korea, and India.
The Shwe project is about 43.5mi (70km) off Myanmar’s Rakhine- Arakan coast and is operated by a consortium led by South Korea’s Daewoo International Corp. Daewoo said that it will invest US$3.2billion in developing the Myanmar gas fields, and has a 30-year contract with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) to provide up to 500 Mcf/d. The gas pipeline will help meet rapidly expanding demand in southern China and the oil pipeline will reduce dependence on oil imports through the Strait of Malacca.
Daewoo has a majority stake of 51% in the consortium with the remaining shares are held by Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS; 8.5%), India’s GAIL (8.5%), Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE; 15%), and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC; 17%).
Gas pipeline
In February 2010, Daewoo finalized a US$1.4 billion EPCIC contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries to build the Shwe platform, subsea production system, subsea pipelines, onshore gas terminal, jetty, and supply base. French company Doris Engineering designed the systems and HHU carried out fabrication and installation.
The offshore gas pipeline is 32-in. diameter and about 110km long,connecting to a 5.7km-long, 32-in.- diameter segment that leads to the onshore gas terminal at Kyauk Phyu, at the northern end of Ramree Island. From the terminal, the gas flows through a 40-in.-diameter onshore gas pipeline that stretches 793km east across Myanmar to Ruili, just across the Chinese border, and 1727km further into China, ending at Naning. The project has an annual throughput capacity of 12 billion cu. m.
In June 2010, MOGE and CNPC created the joint-venture Southeast Asia Gas Pipeline Co. (SEAGP) to direct the gas pipeline project.
After three years of construction, the Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline began flowing on 29 July 2013, carrying gas from the Shwe field complex in the Rakhine Offshore Area, Bay of Bengal, to Yunnan province, southwest China. The natural gas is being produced from the Shwe and Shwe Phyu fields in Block A-1 and Mya field in Block A-3.
In February 2013, MOGE estimated the gas pipeline cost at US$2.15 billion.
Gas facilities
The Shwe project includes a production and processing platform with 11 wells and the Mya-North subsea wellhead/ manifold with 4 wells. Dockwise Ltd. installed the 22,000- ton jacket in March 2012, in about 110m water depth.
The 30,000-ton topsides for the Shwe production platform were built at the HHI fabrication yard in Ulsan, Korea. Dockwise used the same barge to install the topsides in a floatover on 8 Dec 2012.
The new platform accommodates 200 people, along with drilling and production equipment.
Oil pipeline
The 32-in.-diameter crude oil pipeline is still under construction, and will be 2402km long, traversing 771km in Myanmar and a further 1631km in China. CNPC and MOGE created the Southeast Asia Oil Pipeline Co. (SEAOP) to develop the oil pipeline project.
CNPC began building the wharf for the crude oil pipeline on Ma Day Island, Myanmar, in October 2009. The commencement of the wharf construction was the formal start of the oil pipeline, which will be able to carry up to 12 million tons/yr of crude oil into China. Nearly 80% of China’s oil is currently shipped through the Malacca Strait, and this new pipeline will bypass that sea route. In February 2013, MOGE estimated the cost of the crude oil pipeline at US$2.45 billion. OE
Related video:
Dockwise launches SHP jacket, 13 August 2013
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