China's 4,000-kilometer-long natural gas pipeline, linking the gas-rich Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwest with east China's Shanghai Municipality, will officially start commercial operation on Thursday.

"Opening of the pipeline will greatly increase the energy supply in east China," said Xu Dingming, head of the energy bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, on Monday.

The East-west Natural Gas Transmission Project, a landmark in China's mammoth western development drive, has a designed capacity of 12 billion cubic meters, but Xu said the state would strive to lift the volume to 17 billion or 18 billion cubic meters as soon as possible.

A natural-gas-fired power plant has also been constructed to alleviate electricity shortages in east China.

Xinjiang has substantial natural gas reserves. The Tarim Basin alone is estimated to hold 8.0 trillion cubic meters, enough to keep supplies stable for up to 30 years. China consumed less than 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2004, accounting for less than 3 percent of China's primary energy consumption and far below the world average.

Natural gas is a relatively clean fuel, with low sulfur and carbon monoxide emissions, and has high thermal efficiency.

Construction of the pipeline, which crosses Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang on its way to Shanghai, started in July 2002 and was completed on October 1 this year.

(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2004)