China's lengthened west-east gas pipeline project was completed on Tuesday, a year ahead of schedule.

The 4,000-kilometer-long pipeline will be put into trial operation on October 1 and regular use is scheduled to begin on January 1 next year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). When in full operation, the pipeline is expected to deliver 12 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

NDRC Vice Minister Zhang Guobao recently said the project's main operator, PetroChina, has signed gas supply contracts with 20 users in Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Shanghai. Together, they will use up to 6.7 billion cubic meters of gas.

The last section of pipe for the landmark project that will pump natural gas from the resource-rich west to the energy-thirsty east was welded yesterday morning.

The US$5.2 billion project began two years ago. It will transport natural gas from the remote Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the economic hub of Shanghai and other regions of the Yangtze River Delta.

The NDRC said the project will benefit both the coastal and western regions.

The Tarim Basin in Xinjiang and Changqing gas field in Shaanxi Province will become major sources of the natural gas.

Sun Longde, general manager of the Tarim Oilfield Company, said the basin contains 657.9 billion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves. This will ensure a long-term, stable supply of gas to energy-thirsty eastern China.

Potential gas reserves in the Tarim -- at 530,000 square kilometers, China's largest inland basin -- are estimated to run as much as 8.4 trillion cubic meters, or a quarter of China's total land natural gas resources.

During the past 15 years, the company has discovered 40 gas fields, with 1.4 trillion cubic meters of gas verified, said Sun.

Annual production at the oilfield is expected to be 14 billion cubic meters by the time the pipeline begins full operations on January 1. The company plans to increase annual production capacity to 30 billion cubic meters so that it can ensure a stable supply to the pipeline for about 30 years.

As China faces its most serious electricity shortage in 20 years, natural gas users have decided to use the resource to generate more power. Yu Beihua, deputy director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, said natural gas will entirely replace coal and will account for 10 percent of the city's primary source of energy by 2010. The move is part of the government's plan to promote the use of clean energy.

Coal now accounts for 60 percent of the energy used in Shanghai, China's largest energy consumer, down 12 percent since 1994.

The central government has approved construction of at least 35 thermal electricity plants in the Yangtze River Delta this year.

Shanghai currently has two sources of natural gas: the Pinghu Natural Gas Field in the Eastern Sea, about 360 kilometers offshore from Shanghai; and the Changqing gas field in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, transported through the giant West-east Pipeline Project.

(China Daily August 4, 2004)