Gas has started to flow in the Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline, marking the start of trial operations, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. said Wednesday on its website.

The valves at the Kyaukpyu gas station where the pipeline starts in Rakhine state in western Myanmar were open on Monday morning, CNPC said.

The 12 billion cubic meters/year pipeline is operated by CNPC's subsidiary Southeast Asia Pipeline Co. and it will transmit gas from the offshore Shwe gas fields in the Bay of Bengal to China's southern province of Yunnan. From there, it will connect to a spur line within China.

The Shwe project had been targeted to start from July 1 but operator Daewoo International encountered production platform problems at the block and was trying to resolve the situation last week, officials at state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise told Platts July 9.

The South Korean company aims to produce 500,000 Mcf/day of gas from the entire project, with 400,000 Mcf/day to be sold to CNPC and the remainder within Myanmar.

MOGE had said last month that Shwe gas will initially be sent to the domestic market until proper commissioning of the Myanmar-China pipeline starts and the connecting pipeline within China has been fully completed. Officials said gas was only expected to reach China around August or September.