URUMQI, March 29 -- Oil imports from Kazakhstan to China through a land pipeline hit the 100-million-tonne mark Wednesday, the pipeline operator said.

"The safe operation of the pipeline has ensured diverse export channels for Kazakhstan, and also ensured stable energy supply to western regions of China," said Meng Fanchun, general manager of the Central Asia Pipeline Company of China National Petroleum Corporation.

The pipeline runs 2,800 kilometers from the city of Atyrau to Atasu, in Kazakhstan, via the Alataw pass in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to the PetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical Company, one of China's major petrochemical producers.

Operation started in 2006. Crude oil arriving in China through the pipeline is so far worth 60 billion U.S. dollars, according to Meng.

The oil is transported to refineries in Xinjiang, Sichuan and Gansu.

By the end of last year, the pipeline company had paid about 350 million U.S. dollars of fees and taxes to Kazakhstan, the company said.