Construction of China's longest natural gas pipeline is planned
to start next year, as part of the country's strategy to boost the
use of clean energy.
The pipeline, to be operated by China National Petroleum
Corporation, will transport gas from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to
densely populated south China, according to a CRI Online report on
Thursday.
The pipeline, slated to be built in 2010, will stretch 6,500
kilometers from northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to
Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
The length of the pipeline, likely to cost 80 billion yuan
(US$10.2 billion), will be nearly double that of the country's
major West-East pipeline from Xinjiang to Shanghai, the report
said, citing Xue Zhenkui, dean of the China Petroleum Pipeline
Scientific Research Institute, which is affiliated with China
National Petroleum Corp, the nation's largest oil company.
Xue said the company will build a short section of the pipeline
in Xinjiang in August or September next year on a trial basis to
test technology and materials.
The section between Xinjiang and Gansu Province will run
parallel to the West-East pipeline, Xu said. The new line will then
go east toward Guangzhou.
The pipeline will boast an annual capacity of 30 billion cubic
meters, Xue said. China is negotiating natural gas supply contracts
with the Central Asian countries, he added, but didn't reveal the
timeframe for the deals to be finalized.
Xue also said CNPC has arranged alternate supplies from domestic
fields. If China manages to reach agreements with the Central Asian
suppliers, the country will keep the reserve in the fields of Tarim
Basin, Karamay and Qinghai Province for future use.
The CNPC?on Thursday?also said it has begun a gas
transmission project, including a 329-km gas pipeline with a daily
capacity of 12 million cubic meters and a 341-km pipeline with a
daily capacity of nine million cubic meters, to increase supply to
southwest China's Sichuan Province.
(Shanghai Daily April 6, 2007)