Five years in the making, Myanmar on Wednesday officially opened a $2.45 billion 770 km oil pipeline and a deep sea port off of its western coast for a trial period, a significant pipeline project that will carry oil from the Middle East to China.

The Myanmar - China pipeline will help the Middle Kingdom to diversify its oil sources -- up to now China has has been essentially dependent oil transport through the Straits of Malacca.

Myanmar Vice President U Nyan Tun, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Yang Houlan, Myanmar Energy Minister U Zay Ya Aung and General Manager of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Liao Yongyuan jointly inaugurated the trial-operation opening ceremony in Yangon, reported Chinese media Xinhua.

The port has 12 storage tanks with a combined capacity of 22 million gallons of oil