BEIJING, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- As of Wednesday, around 200 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas has been piped from Central Asia to China through a major energy project, according to China National Petroleum Corporation.

As China's first overland cross-border gas project, the China-Central Asia pipelines went into operation in December 2009, and are made up of three routes with a combined annual capacity of 55 bcm. The pipelines pass through countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The project creates a win-win situation: while benefiting over 300 million Chinese, it has also created nearly 10,000 jobs in Central Asia.

Line D is currently under construction and once completed is projected to deliver 30 bcm of natural gas each year.

Estimates show that the 200 bcm of natural gas could replace about 266 million tonnes of coal, and cut 284 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and 4.4 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide.