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Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline constructing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-03 10:40
Construction of the China-Kazakhstan oil pipeline is going well, sources with
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's biggest oil producer, said
Friday.
Construction of the 998-kilometer oil pipeline, which began in September
2004, is scheduled to be completed by December 2005, said CNPC spokesman Li
Runsheng.
An agreement on a cross-border oil pipeline linking Atasu in Kazakhstan to
Alataw Pass of northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was signed May 17,
2004 between CNPC and the Kazakhstan National Petroleum and Natural Gas Company
(KMG).
According to the agreement, the oil pipeline will be jointly laid by CNPC and
KMG. Upon completion, the oil pipeline will be able to carry 10 million tons of
oil per year in its initial phase.
An extension of the oil pipeline, which is planned to be 252 kilometers long,
will be constructed from Alataw Pass to Dushanzi oil refinery in Xinjiang, said
Li.
Constructed by the CNPC alone, the extended oil pipeline broke ground
recently, said Li.
According to Li, a 448-km oil pipeline in Kazakhstan linking Atyrau to
Kenkiyak jointly invested in by CNPC and KMG was completed in March 2003. Built
to meet the oil transportation demands of the oil-rich Aktyubinsk region, the
pipeline was not included in the agreement on the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline.
China's imports of oil from Kazakhstan, the world's third largest oil
producer, now travel hundreds of kilometers by rail to Xinjiang.
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