China saw its oil and gas pipelines extend by 62 percent in the last four years to 48,000 kilometers, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

By the end of last year, China's oil pipelines reached 24,136 kilometers in length, with transmission capacity up 59.3 percent over 2002 to 575.3 million tons a year.

Gas transmission capacity surged 158.9 percent over 2002 to 94.2 billion cubic meters a year as the total length of gas pipelines rose 62.7 percent to 24,090 kilometers.

China's first west-to-east gas pipeline, which went into operation in 2004, runs 4,000 kilometers and carries 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Shanghai from the Tarim Basin in northwestern Xinjiang.

The capacity was expected to reach 1.7 billion cubic meters in 2008, according to previous reports.

Another gas pipeline is being laid from southwestern Sichuan to Shanghai to provide the eastern metropolis with 1.9 billion cubic meters of gas a year upon completion in 2010.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2007)