BEIJING, April 6 -- 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 (10.2 billion U.S. dollars), 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.
(Source: Shanghai Daily)
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