Shahid Anjum
Agence India Press, Correspondent
July 28, 2009
Kuala Lumpur


The Chinese investors are keen to fund an oil pipeline connecting Malaysia and Thailand, a media report said on Tuesday.
Merapoh Resources Corp Sdn Bhd, the company building a USD 10 billion refinery in the northwestern state of Kedah, which borders Thailand, told the English-language daily that the pipeline would link Yan in Kedah to Songkhla in southern Thailand.
"The Chinese have proposed the idea of the pipeline connecting Yan and Songkhla. They have already conducted a study and spoken to China, Thailand and Malaysia about it," Merapoh Executive Chairman Mohamad Nazri Ramli was quoted saying in an interview.
He did not name the investors involved.
"Yan will be the first entry point for crude oil from the Middle East. Yan is not a busy route and (it is) a wide span which is easy for vessels to maneuver. It is a good point to catch the crude and go back," he added.
The Chinese, he said, are also looking at transporting the refined petroleum products using the Singapore-Kunming rail link.
"It would just take 72 hours to transport the products using this rail services to China," Nazri said.
The Chinese proposal is the third for such a pipeline that cuts across northern Peninsular Malaysia, allowing ships to bypass the busy Malacca Strait.