- A newly built Chinese refinery near its border with Myanmar faces a delayed start-up after PetroChina (PTR +3.1%) balked at paying an extra tax for piping crude oil through the country, Reuters reports.
- PTR parent China National Petroleum early last year began trial operations of a deep sea port and 2,400-km pipeline through Myanmar to China's Yunnan province, where CNPC also has been building a 260K bbl/day refinery at Anning to process the oil; the company completed construction of the Anning plant around July and had aimed for test operations this month, but the project reportedly now faces delays.
- China has been on a diplomatic offensive in Myanmar since the new government came to power in April, hoping to ensure good ties with its resource-rich neighbor.