China’s Oil Deals With Iran, Myanmar Put It at Odds With U.S.

In a steamy jungle clearing in Myanmar, a lone drilling rig topped by limp red flags bears testimony to China’s insatiable thirst for oil.

A century ago, British-owned Burmah Oil Co. made a fortune for its shareholders from oil fields that lie beneath the teak forests and golden-spired Buddhist pagodas of the country formerly known as Burma. In today’s Myanmar — a military dictatorship under Western economic sanctions — there’s little hope of striking another gusher, says Ma Guiming, 36, a stocky, crew-cutted project leader for China National Petroleum Corp.

“Gou qiang,” Ma says of the search for oil, using a Beijing slang term that literally means it will be chokingly difficult. “But we have no choice. This is something we have to do.”

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