A massive Malaysian oil pipeline project to process and pump oil shipped from the Mideast could lower transportation costs and avoid risks of pirate attacks on tankers at the Malacca Strait, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said Tuesday.
The US$14.2 billion project would involve building a 320-kilometer (200-mile) pipeline across northern Malaysia, linking ports on the two coasts, officials have said.
Plans also called for at least one coastal refinery that could process 200,000 barrels daily scheduled to be operational by the end of 2010. Crude oil would be refined in Kedah, on the west coast, pumped through the pipe to Kelantan on the east coast and then loaded onto tankers bound for Japan, China and South Korea, completely bypassing Singapore and the Malacca Strait.
"There are proposals to have a refinery and a pipeline that will take it across. As far as I know, it is still at a discussion stage. Nothing has been finalized," he said.
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Malaysia to Build Massive Pipeline
The US$14.2 billion project would involve building a 320-kilometer pipeline across northern Malaysia
