Shanghai will be using gas from Turkmenistan by 2010 when part of the country's second pipeline in the massive West-to-East Natural Gas Pipeline Project goes into operation.

Gas supply from the second line to Shanghai would begin when the line's section in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region starts production, Xinmin Evening News reported yesterday.

The gas from the second line would be transported to Shanghai and eastern China via nine stops - in cities such as Wuhan and Zhengzhou, the newspaper report said.

The China National Petroleum Corporation, the country's biggest gas supplier, has sped up the construction of the second pipeline by an average 6 kilometers more per day.

It is expected to finish the project by 2011, according to Huang Zejun, the general manager of the China Petroleum West-East Gas Transfer Pipeline Corporation.

Shanghai will build a gas-supply exit in Jiading District when construction of the second line is completed. At that time, the second line is expected to pump out 30 billion cubic meters annually.

The Shanghai Gas Group said strategy for natural-gas usage from the second line had yet to be decided.

"We don't know how much gas we will need by that time," said company official Zhang Weihua.

The second pipeline, which includes a 4,945-kilometer main line and eight tributaries totaling 4,157 kilometers, runs 9,102 kilometers across 14 provinces and municipalities and cost 143.5 billion yuan (US$20.99 billion).

China signed a deal with Turkmenistan in July last year, which granted the nation an annual 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas. This gas will be pumped into the second line in Xinjiang's Korgas.

The first line of the project was launched in 2002. It now pumps out 12 billion cubic meters of gas every year.

Shanghai received 5 million cubic meters of gas from the first pipeline during this summer's power peak, which helped produce 25 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.

In addition to supplies from the west-east project, Shanghai has another three suppliers, the East China Sea Gas Field, Puguang Gas Field in Sichuan and a Shanghai-based natural-gas project.

The Shanghai project is still under construction.

(Shanghai Daily September 5, 2008)