PipeChina begins construction on gas pipeline segment

China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network Corp, China's largest energy infrastructure owner and also known as PipeChina, announced on Thursday the official commencement of construction for the middle segment of the third West-to-East gas pipeline project.

The company said the move, which aims to further enhance natural gas pipeline networks in Central and East China, is of great value for national energy security and carbon emission control.

With a full length of 2,090 kilometers, the gas pipeline starts from Zhongwei in Ningxia Hui autonomous region and runs to Ji'an in Jiangxi province, crossing seven provinces and autonomous regions also including Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan.

The pipeline is designed with an annual transmission capacity of 25 billion cubic meters, having 10 compressor stations and 2 branch trunk lines.

Once in operation, the pipeline will connect the western and eastern segments of the third West-to-East gas pipelines, so natural gas resources in West China will be effectively transmitted to meet market demand in East China and the layout of the natural gas pipeline network in the central and eastern regions will also be improved, with increased interconnectivity among the existing regional and national gas transmission pipelines.

That will also enhance complementarity between domestic and foreign supplies and improve the flexibility of natural gas deployment and supply to better secure energy supply for economic development and environmental protection of regions alongside the pipeline route, and contribute to the establishment of the new natural gas pipeline network featuring "five vertical and five horizontal" major pipelines during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

The middle segment project will increase annual transmission capacity of the West-to-East gas pipeline project by about 25 billion cubic meters once it is completed, reducing carbon emissions by 70.89 million metric tons annually compared with coal consumption and promoting a greener energy mix and development and contribute to the realization of the nation's carbon goals, the company said.

As the pipeline will pass through many mountainous and disastrous geological and geomorphological areas, PipeChina has raised its requirements on construction work in several areas, such as construction goals, technological innovations, quality and safety, environmental protection, establishment of a criteria system and smart pipeline network application.

The western segment of the third West-to-East pipeline project runs from Horgos in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to Zhongwei, and the eastern part runs from Ji'an to Fuzhou, Fujian province. The two segment projects each came into operation in August 2014 and December 2016.