China halts main oil products pipeline after quake

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - PetroChina (0857.HK) has suspended oil flows at a major fuel pipeline to check for possible damage after a powerful earthquake hammered southwest China, company sources said on Tuesday.

A prolonged halt at the pipeline that supplies most of the fuel to the quake-hit region could force production cuts at the 200,000-bpd Lanzhou refinery, the largest in western China, the sources said.

"The pipeline has been halted for checks shortly after the quake and oil is being diverted to storages tanks. We have no information now when it will resume operations," said a company official from Lanzhou city.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Ken Wills)

(aizhu.chen@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: aizhu.chen.reuters.com@reuters.net; +8610 6627 1211)