BEIJING, April 18 -- PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina) recently executed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing with Enbridge, the second largest pipeline operator in Canada. Both sides will work together on a project of building new pipeline and transporting crude oil from Canada to inland China.

    This project will cost 2.02 billion US dollars. It is predicted that PetroChina can import 200,000 barrels of crude per day from Canada as early as 2009.

    Enbridge plans to build Gateway, an oil pipeline with a 30-inch diameter and 1,160 kilometers long. It will transport crude oil produced from Alberta's Calgary Oil Sand to docks on the west coast, and then the crude will be carried by oil tankers to China, the Asia-Pacific area and California.

    This will be the first time Asia imports crude oil from Canada. The pipeline is expected to transfer 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily, half of which provided by PetroChina.

    According to Jim Rennie, spokesman of Enbridge, his company is the intermediary between PetroChina and the producer of oil sand. The agreement does not contain any promise that PetroChina can become a shareholder or a shipping merchant of the pipeline.

    Both sides will sign a binding agreement formally within the year, and Enbridge will put forward relevant applications to local regulators next year. This pipeline will be put into operation in 2009 or 2010.