West gas reaches east China
www.chinaview.cn 2003-12-18 17:00:51
BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Natural gas from Shaanxi Province in northwest China reached Changzhou of Jiangsu Province in the east Thursday after the West-East gas pipeline started trial operation on Oct. 1.
Natural gas supply to Changzhou covers only an area of 600 square kilometers in the first phase, and the consumption is expected to reach 200 million cubic meters annually in 2010, according to PetroChina Co., Ltd., the listed arm of China's largest oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corporation.
The city previously used bottled gas which is more expensive than piped gas.
The pipeline carries some 1 million cubic meters of gas every day, the company said.
Construction of the West-East gas pipeline started in July 2002and trial operation began on Oct. 1 this year in its eastern section, running from Changqing gas field to Shanghai.
The 2,330 kilometer-long western section, from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang to Shaanxi Province, was completed in November.
The project, with a total investment of more than 200 billion yuan (24.1 billion US dollars), is designed to carry natural gas from the Tarim Basin and Changqing gas field to energy-hungry eastern provinces.
The pipeline, to run 4,000 kilometers, is to carry 12 billion cubic meters of gas annually and scheduled to go into full operation on Jan. 1, 2005. Enditem
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