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West–East Gas Pipeline

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The West–East Gas Pipeline (Chinese: 西氣東輸) is a 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) long pipeline, which runs from Lunnan in Xinjiang to Shanghai. The pipeline passes through 66 counties in the 10 provinces in China.[1] Natural gas transported by the pipeline is used for electricity production in the Yangtze River Delta area. There is a plan to replace coal with gas in Shanghai by 2010.

History

The construction of the West–East Gas Pipeline started in 2002. The pipeline was put into trial operation on 1 October 2004, and the full commercial supply of natural gas commenced on 1 January 2005. The pipeline is owned and operated by PetroChina West–East Gas Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of PetroChina. Originally, it was agreed that PetroChina would have owned 50% of the pipeline, while Royal Dutch Shell, Gazprom, and ExxonMobil had been slated to hold 15% each, and Sinopec 5%. However, in August 2004, the Board of Directors of PetroChina announced that following good faith discussions with all parties to the Joint Venture Framework Agreement, the parties had not been able to reach an agreement, and the Joint Venture Framework Agreement was terminated.[2]

Technical features

The capacity of the pipeline is 12 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas, annually.[3] The cost of the pipeline was US$5.7 billion. By the end of 2007, the capacity was planned to be upgraded to 17 bcm. For this purpose, ten new gas compressor stations will be built and eight existing stations are to be upgraded.[4]

Connections

The West–East Gas Pipeline is connected to the Shaan-Jing pipeline by three branch pipelines.[5] The 886 kilometres (551 mi) long Ji-Ning branch between the Qingshan Distributing Station and the Anping Distributing Station became operational on 30 December 2005.

Source of supply

The pipeline is supplied from the Tarim Basin gas fields in Xinjiang province. The Changqing gas area in Shaanxi province is a secondary gas source. In the future, the planned Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline will be connected to the West–East Gas Pipeline.

Starting from 15 September 2009, the pipeline is also supplied with coalbed methane from the Qinshui Basin in Shanxi.[6]

Second, third and fourth pipelines

Construction of the second West–East Gas Pipeline started on 22 February 2008. The pipeline with a total length of 9,102 kilometres (5,656 mi), including 4,843 kilometres (3,009 mi) of the main line and eight sub-lines, will run from Khorgas in northwestern Xinjiang to Guangzhou in Guangdong. Up to Gansu, it will be parallel and interconnected with the first west-east pipeline. The western part of the pipeline is expected to be commissioned by 2009, and the eastern part by June 2011.[7]

The capacity of the second pipeline would be 30 bcm of natural gas per year. It will be mainly supplied by the Central Asia-China gas pipeline. The pipeline is expected to cost US$20 billion.[7][8] The project is developed by China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corp. (CNODC), a joint venture of China National Petroleum Corporation and PetroChina.[9]

There are plans to build the third and fourth west-east gas pipelines. The third pipeline will run from the western Xinjiang region to Fujian province in the southeast.[10] The fourth pipeline will start from the Tarim Basin or from Sichuan.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "China proposes construction of 2nd west-east gas pipeline". People's Daily Online. 2006-03-11. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
  2. ^ "PetroChina; Announcement". Petrochina Company Limited. 4 August 2004. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  3. ^ Wang Ying (2005-06-22). "West-East gas pipeline expands supply area". China Daily. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
  4. ^ George Bernard (2006-09-01). "PetroChina To Boost West-East Gas Pipeline's Capacity 42%". Dow Jones Chinese Financial Wire. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
  5. ^ "PetroChina Completes Projects for W-to-E Gas Pipeline". Downstream Today. 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  6. ^ Jim Bai, Tom Miles (16 September 2009). "PetroChina pumps coal seam gas in West-East pipeline". Reuters. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  7. ^ a b "China Starts Work on $20B Pipeline for Turkmen Gas". Downstream Today. 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  8. ^ "CNPC plans to build longest LNG pipeline". Xinhua. 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
  9. ^ "PetroChina, CNODC to invest in gas pipeline". Xinhua. 2008-01-05. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  10. ^ "China Studying Third West-East Gas Pipeline - Report". Downstream Today. 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-12-25.
  11. ^ "China Proposes Fourth West-East Natural Gas Pipeline". Downstream Today. 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
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