Foreign Fund Allowed to Hold Shares in West-East Gas Transmission Project

On December 4, Spokesman for the Office of the State Leading Group in Charge of the West-East Gas Transmission Project Construction announced in Shanghai two special policies on the Project: Opening the whole line of the project to the outside for all-round cooperation, the foreign side can hold share of the project; considering the particularity of the project, the State Council has made an exceptional decision to include the construction of the urban natural gas pipeline network into the cooperative scope of opening to the outside world.

The spokesman indicated that the west-east gas transmission project would not be exclusively funded by State-owned units, the foreign side is allowed to hold shares, without restriction on the percentage of share or the method of cooperation. The form of joint venture, cooperative venture or other forms can be employed; besides, it is decided with special approval from the State Council to incorporate the construction of urban natural gas pipeline network into the cooperative scope of opening to the outside. In the "Industrial Catalogue Guiding Foreign Investment", it is explicitly stipulated that the above two items are prohibited, but they are specially permitted in the west-east gas transmission project, this represents two major breakthroughs.ĄŁ

Beginning in 2003, residents and enterprises of Shanghai will be able to use the natural gas from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. According to the current planned program, the annual volume of gas supply in the initial period of the project will be about 12 billion cubic meters and the figure will exceed 10 billion cubic meters in 2020. By then, gas supply to Shanghai will be secured through two separate pipeline nets ( kerosene gas and natural gas) and three gas sources (gas from the East China Sea, western regions and LNG).. Large-scale use of natural gas will greatly improve Shanghai's environment.



By PD Online staff member Du Minghua


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