Published : 10/03/2026
China's petroleum (crude oil) imports heavily rely on maritime transport. However, it is difficult to completely bypass the "Malacca Dilemma" by sea. To address this, China has built three major transnational pipelines to import crude oil through neighbouring countries by land, in order to strengthen energy security and diversify risks.
Which countries do these three transnational crude oil pipelines of China connect? Will China build more crude oil pipelines in the future?
China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline—1st pipeline of the silk road
Let's get straight to the point. Although Russia neighbours China and has been China's largest supplier of crude oil for many consecutive years, China's first transnational crude oil pipeline was not, as many might assume, connected to Russia.
Instead, it was connected to the Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country of Kazakhstan, known as the "First Pipeline of the Silk Road', it is the China-Kazakhstan Oil Pipeline.
The pipeline starts in the west from the Caspian city of Atyrau in Kazakhstan, connects to the first station of the Alashankou-Dushanzi oil pipeline in Xinjiang, China, which is 2.2 kilometres from the China-Kazakhstan border, and then connects with China's domestic pipelines.
The pipeline spans approximately 2,800 kilometres in length, with an annual oil transportation capacity of 20 million tonnes. It commenced full-scale oil transmission in May 2006.
Kazakhstan's crude oil resources are concentrated in the west and along the Caspian coast, and its production volume ranks among the top twenty globally, but for historical and other reasons, the country supplies more to Europe, and the amount of oil transported to China is temporarily limited.
Data shows that in 2025, Kazakhstan's crude oil exports to China were less than 4 million tonnes, far below the designed capacity of the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline.
However, the fact that its oil transport volume is far below its upper limit means that there is potential for expansion in the China-Kazakhstan oil trade.
China-Russia crude oil pipeline——direct to the "Oil City' of Daqing
China's second transnational crude oil pipeline is the China-Russia crude oil pipeline, which connects to Russia. The Siberia region of Russia has very abundant oil resources, and the starting point of this pipeline is precisely the Skovorodino offtake station, a key node of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.
The pipeline then enters China at Mohe in Heilongjiang Province, briefly passes through Inner Mongolia before returning to Heilongjiang, and ends at the "Oil City" of Daqing, with a total length of nearly 1,000 kilometres and a designed maximum annual transport capacity of 30 million tonnes.
Daqing has China's largest oilfield, and oil production has in turn given rise to China's largest refining and petrochemical industrial base.
After decades of development, Daqing's oil resources have gradually diminished, and the crude oil transported from the China-Russia pipeline ensures that the local refining and petrochemical industries have sufficient raw materials, avoiding a waste of production capacity.
Records show that the Sino-Russian oil pipeline was signed after 15 years of negotiations and was quickly put into operation in November 2011.
According to the agreement between China and Russia at the time, 15 million tonnes of crude oil would be transported to China via this pipeline annually for 20 years.
Before the pipeline was laid, China's oil imports from Russia mainly relied on railways, and the transportation costs were much higher.
The China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline—a transit route for Middle East crude oil
The third is the China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline, which was commissioned in 2017. It starts at Made Island Port near Kyaukpyu on the west coast of Myanmar, travels north to enter China through Ruili in Yunnan, and ends in Chongqing, a municipality with a strong petrochemical industry.
The total length is approximately 2,400 kilometres, with a maximum annual oil transport capacity of 22 million tonnes.
Although Myanmar, located in Southeast Asia, has some oil resources, its production has remained at a very low level due to constraints such as capital, technology, and infrastructure. Therefore, the China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline focuses on transhipment and transit.
Crude oil coming east by sea from the Middle East, Africa, and even Europe can be offloaded at Maday Island Port and then transported to China via the crude oil pipeline.
Looking at the map, we can see that this route perfectly avoids the Malacca Dilemma. Of course, crude oil pipelines are not affected by weather like maritime transport, enabling round-the-clock operation and more stable supply.
Are three transnational crude oil pipelines enough? Even if they can operate at full capacity, their combined oil transport volume is only just over 70 million tonnes, whereas China's crude oil imports for 2025 are projected to exceed 500 million tonnes.
Therefore, planning more transnational oil pipelines will certainly be beneficial for strengthening the stability of energy supplies.
Crossing the Pamirs: Will the China-Pakistan crude oil pipeline be built?
Which pipeline routes are more likely to be realised? Many media outlets have mentioned the China-Pakistan crude oil pipeline, which is in the early exploratory stages and would connect Pakistan with Xinjiang, China.
Looking at the map again, crude oil transported by sea from the Middle East could be rerouted through a pipeline from Gwadar Port in Pakistan to China, which would both avoid the Malacca Dilemma and save 8,000 kilometres of sea mileage.
The idea of a China-Pakistan crude oil and natural gas pipeline had long appeared in the concept for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a key Belt and Road project.
However, the proposed pipeline would need to cross the Pamir Plateau, a massive undertaking, and would also have to pass through some turbulent regions within Pakistan. These are factors that must be considered.
In addition, some media have mentioned the possibility of a westward extension of the China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline, which would extend from Myanmar either overland or via undersea channel all the way to the major Middle Eastern oil-producing country, Iran, with a total length of 3,500 to 4,000 kilometres.
But based on the current situation, geopolitical risks exist in some areas along the proposed western extension, and even at its endpoint in Iran. Perhaps the possibility of it being realised in the foreseeable future is very slim.
Having discussed transnational crude oil pipelines, let's now talk about a partially overlapping concept: China's four major oil and gas import corridors. Oil refers to crude oil, and gas is natural gas, both are energy sources that China relies on importing.
Besides crude oil pipelines, there are also transnational natural gas pipelines
The largest channel for China's oil and gas imports is the Northwest Corridor, which mainly includes the aforementioned China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline, as well as the four lines (A to D) of the Central Asia-China gas pipeline.
The latter starts from the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, crosses central Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan, enters China through the Khorgos port in Xinjiang, and then connects to the domestic West-East Gas Pipeline.
The second largest is the Northeast Corridor, which is mainly the Sino-Russian crude oil pipeline, plus the China-Russia East-Route Natural Gas Pipeline and the China-Russia Far East Natural Gas Pipeline, and in the future, there is also the "Power of Siberia No.2" natural gas pipeline project.
The third largest is the Southwest Corridor, which is the Sino-Myanmar crude oil pipeline and the natural gas pipeline constructed at the same time. The natural gas pipeline and crude oil pipeline diverge in Guizhou, with their terminus in Guangxi.
The fourth largest corridor is the Eastern Maritime Corridor, which is the most familiar to everyone, it is currently the oil and gas import corridor with the highest proportion in China, where 90% of China's imported crude oil and about two-thirds of its liquefied natural gas are transported to eastern ports via large ships.
Finally, in addition to having transnational crude oil pipelines to diversify risks, China has also established strategic petroleum reserve bases to cope with emergencies. As for where China's strategic petroleum reserve bases are built, it will be detailed in another article.
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