January 30, 2023(Narinjara)

The Junta exportedand sold US$1.43 billion worth of natural gas from Rakhine to China during 2022.

BETV Business Newscited a statement from a Chinese customs department about the gas produced by the Shwe natural gas project inRakhine offshore, and sold to China through the Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline.

The gas pipeline,which was built at a cost of about $1 billion, was said to be able to distribute and transport 12 billion cubic meters ofgas annually. The natural gas produced from Rakhine offshore is sent to China’s Yunnan State through the gas pipeline across Magway, Mandalay and Shan State.

In addition to thegas there is also the 771-kilometer long crude oil pipeline from Kyauk Phyu to Yunnan State built at a cost of morethan $1.5 billion, and designed to transport 22 million tons of crude oil annually.

In theChina-Myanmar gas pipeline project, Myanmar Oil and Natural Gas Enterprise (MOGE) owns 7.36 percent of the shares, and in theoil pipeline project, it owns up to 49.1 percent of the shares.

According to thereport, Myanmar is among the countries that exports the most gas to China, and is the third largest exporter of naturalgas after Turkmenistan and Russia.

The Myanmar-Chinanatural gas pipeline is under the responsibility of South-East Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SEAGP), while thecrude oil pipeline is being managed by South-East Asia Crude Oil Pipeline Company (SEAOP).

Even though thatRakhine’snatural resources are exported to China for billions every year by successive Myanmar governments, Rakhinestate is the second poorest state in Myanmar and has one of the highest unemploymentrates.