Gas Reserves Ready for West-east Pipe-line ProjectNatural gas reserves have been verified for the first phase of the ambitious west-east pipe-line project, part of China's strategy to develop its vast western areas.The Tarim Oil Field Corp. and the Northwest Petroleum Administration of the China Petrochemical Group have proven 532.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the Tarim Basin of the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a prerequisite for the project. The 4,167-kilometer pipe-line is designed to supply 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Shanghai for 30 years, said Jia Chengzao deputy manager of the Tarim Oil Field Corp. His company has found nine gas fields in the basin, five of which are large-scale ones with the largest having 250.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, Jia said, adding that the Oil Field Plans to drill another 12 wildcat gas wells by the end of 2001. Construction of the pipe line, which starts from Xinjiang, running through Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to Shanghai, will begin from April next year and is scheduled to be completed within three years, with a total investment of 38.4 billion yuan (US$4.63 billion). The Yangtze River Delta areas, the major user of the natural gas, are working on how to make the best use of the gas. Shanghai, for example, has begun to reconstruct and expand its gas pipe-line networks for the coming gas. |
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