Two leading oil and gas companies from China and Kazakstan
Monday inked an agreement on a major crude oil pipeline that may
help boost Kazakh oil exports to China.
China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Kazakstan's State-owned
KazMunaiGaz will jointly invest in the construction of a
1,240-kilometre-long pipeline from Atasu in northwestern Kazakstan
to the border of China's Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.
Construction on the project, which is the second section of a
3,000-kilometre trans-border trunkline, is expected to begin in
August, said a CNPC news release. The pipeline's initial capacity
is expected to hit 10 million tons of crude oil a year after its
completion in 2005.
When completed, the three-section trunkline, with a total length
of more than 3,000 kilometers, would be able to deliver up to 20
million tons of Caspian Sea crude to western China annually,
experts said.
"Focusing on the construction of Sino-Kazakh oil pipeline, the
two nations should seek new breakthroughs in their co-operation of
energy sources," President Hu Jintao told visiting President of
Kazakstan Nursultan Nazarbayev Monday.
With similar geopolitical situations and mutually complementary
resources, China and Kazakstan are in a good position to work
together, Hu said.
Both governments are pushing for a more relaxed and convenient
environment to enlarge bilateral trade, he said.
Moreover, both sides should move towards easier transport
through more integrated port freights and communication
networks.
More Kazakh companies are welcome to take part in China's western
development movement which can grow together with Kazakstan, Hu
said.
For his part, Nazarbayev said China's development poses no
threat to Kazakstan, but will, in fact, strengthen the relationship
between the two countries particularly in relation to trade, energy
and communications.
After their talks, the two leaders appeared at a signing
ceremony for a joint communique, which is the main agreement for
the oil pipeline, and six other documents.
The agreement says Kazakstan sticks by the one-China policy and
opposes the independence of Taiwan as well its attempts to join any
international and regional organizations that require national
sovereignty.
The two nations agree that terrorism, separatism and extremism
severely threaten world safety and vow to strengthen bilateral and
multilateral co-operation to fight against these forces.
Both nations will combat all forms of terrorism, including the
Eastern Turkistan groups, said the communique.
Hailing the trans-border oil pipeline as a project of great
strategic importance to Kazakstan, Kazakstan's Prime Minister
Daniyal Akhmetov said his government would seek the leading role of
the project by acquiring a 51 per cent stake, Xinhua reported.
He made the remarks at an economic forum in April in
Kazakstan.
The first section of the project, running 448.8 kilometres from
Atyrau to Kenkiyak in Kazakstan, was completed at the end of 2002
and came into operation in March, said the CNPC on its website.
(China Daily May 18, 2004)