Xinjiang to start receiving WEP II gas in late October
Shanghai. August 26. INTERFAX-CHINA - Western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will start receiving natural gas from the second West-East Pipeline (WEP II) in late October, the pipeline's operator, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), said on Aug. 26.
The region will receive 6.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually through three of the WEP II'S branch pipelines, 3 billion cubic meters of which will be sold to residential consumers, according to CNPC. The remainder will supply the region's industrial consumers.
The, 8,600-kilometer WEP II is designed to deliver natural gas from Turkmenistan to Guangdong Province in southern China and passes through a number of Chinese provinces. CNPC plans to gradually start supplying gas to consumers in other provinces as construction of the pipeline continues.
CNPC is scheduled to put the RMB 150 billion ($21.96 billion) pipeline into full operation by the end of 2011. The pipeline is expected to deliver gas to 400 million Chinese residents.
-WV