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)