CONSTRUCTION of the NW China Gansu Province section of the national west-to-east gas project started on 28 March. The 976-km pipeline in this section is part of China’s massive project, which was launched in 2002, in a bid to tap the vast gas resources in the country’s western regions and to meet the increasing demand for energy. China Petroleum has designed specific plans to meet with the harsh geographic and environmental conditions in Gansu to ensure the safety of the project, and protection of local wildlife has been considered.
The gas transmission project, with a total investment of $4.8billion, starts in Luntai County in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the NW of the country, and will cross ten provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities including Xinjiang, Gansu and Ningxia. The route of the 3,900-km pipeline traverses deserts, mountains, grassland, the Loess Plateau, the Taihang Mountains, as well as the Yellow, Huaihe, and Yangtze rivers, before reaching Shanghai. On completion in 2005, it will transmit 12Bcum/yr of gas. The 1,485-km section from NW Shaanxi to Shanghai has been completed, and will supply gas to Shanghai next year.