China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has inked a deal to build a US$3.29 billion oil pipeline in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company's largest overseas construction project so far.

CNPC, the country's largest oil and gas producer, signed the agreement with its UAE partner on Sunday. It will build a 400-km pipeline to Fujairah port from an oilfield in the western part of the country, CNPC said in a statement on its website yesterday.

The pipeline, with a designed capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day and a maximum capacity of 1.8 million barrels per day, is expected to start operation at the end of 2010, it said.

The project will boost CNPC's full cooperation with Middle Eastern countries, the statement said.

In November CNPC signed an agreement with Iraq's oil ministry to jointly develop an oilfield in the Middle East country, which is among Iraq's first batch of joint-venture oil projects since the US-led invasion in 2003.

The Middle Eastern countries now remain the largest source for China to import oil. The country's imports from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Oman now rank first, third and fifth in terms of volume.

China has also signed contracts with other countries in the region such as Qatar and Yemen for long-term oil imports.

Last year China imported nearly 200 million tons of oil, an increase of more than 10 percent from 2006.

Imported oil accounted for 46 percent in the country's total consumption.

(China Daily December 3, 2008)