According to a report, in order to meet the strong demand for natural gas in its vibrant eastern coastal region, China may build the third West-East Gas Pipeline.
 
The report said that the third West-East Gas Pipeline will be laid from Xinjiang in western China, and terminal may be in Fujian Province in southeastern China. It will transport natural gas from Xinjiang to the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta with more energy consumption in China.
 


A few days ago, an official from the planning department of China National Petroleum Corporation, a state-owned oil giant in China, said that CNPC would announce a preliminary plan for laying the third West-East Gas Pipeline early next year.
 
The length of the project may be similar to that of a natural gas pipeline that CNPC started to build in February this year, with a total length of approximately 9,102km (5,650 miles). The pipeline, which will transport natural gas from Central Asian countries, including Turkmenistan, to Shanghai in eastern China and Guangdong in southern China, will require a total investment of CNY142.2 billion (USD20.8 billion). The pipeline designed to transport 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas every year, whose annual transmission capacity will likely increase to 40 billion cubic meters, is expected to be completed in 2021. As the prices of raw materials rise, the third West-East Gas Pipeline may be a more expensive natural gas pipeline.


 
China’s first West-East Gas Pipeline was built and put into use in 2004. It was the largest energy project in China at the time, and its annual natural gas transmission capacity has now reached 12 billion cubic meters.