Negotiations are underway between PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) and China Petroleum and Chemical Company, or Sinopec, on a proposed joint venture on an oil pipeline project across southern Thailand.

The oil pipeline project is aimed at reducing costs of shipping oil from Thailand to Northern and Eastern Asia, the Thai News Agency reported Friday.

The pipeline will run from the southern resort island of Phuket, taking crude oil and petroleum products to be loaded on tankers and shipped to the northeastern and eastern markets, including China and Japan.

With the pipeline, shipments of crude oil and petroleum products from the Middle East to the destinations through the Strait of Malacca, which passes Indonesia and Malaysia, will take less time -- about one week faster.

The PTT is conducting a feasibility study of the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.