Government and Policy

1st law to protect pipelines adopted

By Xin Dingding and Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-26 09:48

BEIJING- The country's top legislature adopted its first law protecting oil and natural gas pipelines to spell out the responsibilities of companies and governments in the sector.

The 61-article law, set to take effect on Oct 1 this year, requires companies to take safety measures during the construction of pipelines, ensure the quality of construction materials, patrol pipelines regularly and place warning signs near them.

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Similarly, relevant government departments should also coordinate major issues regarding pipeline protection and supervise companies to fulfill their responsibilities in protecting pipelines according to the law.

The law also authorizes the State Council, the country's Cabinet, to issue a detailed regulation on the protection of offshore oil and gas pipelines.

The law's adoption comes at a time when the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst oil spill in the history of the United States, has prompted governments worldwide to reconsider protective measures for natural resources.

"The pipelines are related to the safety of the public and the country's resources," said Yuan Jie, an official with the National People's Congress Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission.

Currently, damages by a third party - including those who drill to steal oil for profits and those who unintentionally break pipelines during construction - are mostly blamed for pipeline hazards, they said.

"They account for at least one-third of all causes," said Zhang Hong, professor with China University of Petroleum who is researching pipeline safety technologies.

Other causes include pipeline erosion and malpractices.

The new law bans any moving, dismantling, puncturing of oil and gas pipelines or stealing of oil and gas being transported.

Sources with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation were quoted by Outlook Weekly magazine in May as saying that perpetrators drilled into its pipelines 19,804 times from 2002 to 2009, causing the company to lose 47,000 tons of oil.

"When damages on oil pipelines occur in residential areas, it will cause casualties and make the pollution more difficult to control," said Jia Limin, professor with Beijing Jiaotong University.

China has more than 70,000 km of trunk pipelines, which transport 70 percent of crude oil and 99 percent of natural gas in the country, said Zhao Yujian, pipeline bureau chief of China National Petroleum Corp.

He said the country expects to expand its pipeline network to 200,000 km by 2020.

Legislators on Friday also adopted an amendment to the Administrative Supervision Law, which strengthens the protection of informants in a bid to encourage tip-offs on official corruption.

The amendment stipulates that those who reveal an informant's personal information will be punished according to the law.