China starts work on cross-border oil pipeline to Kazakhstan

[China News] Beijing, Mar 25 : China has started construction on the 240-kilometre-long cross-border oil pipeline to Kazakhstan.

The Xinjiang section will form part of a 3,000-kilometre pipeline from the oil-rich Caspian shelf to energy-hungry China, which will carry oil across eastern Kazakhstan into the Xinjiang autonomous region, where it will be refined or sent directly to the country's booming east, officials with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's biggest oil producer, told Xinhua news agency.

Construction of the pipeline, which will cost three billion US dollars, began last year. It will link Atasu in Kazakhstan to Dushanzi and is China's first major land oil import route.

A CNPC official said the cross-border oil pipeline, with 2,800 kilometres in Kazakhstan and 240 kilometres in China, is expected to be completed on December 16, 2005. It will be able to carry 20 million tonnes of oil per year.

Oil analysts say the pipeline can provide China stable and secure crude oil supply, while Kazakhstan will have a reliable oil market, Xinhua reported.

Construction on the Kazakhstan section of the oil pipeline began in September and will be completed in 2005. Kazakhstan is the world's third largest oil producer. The country plans to raise its annual crude production to 100 million tonnes by 2010.

Three Chinese factories are principally responsible for supplying the pipe. China-made pipes have been shipped to Kazakhstan since last winter.

China's imports of Kazakh oil now travel hundreds of kilometres by rail to Xinjiang. PTI

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