Crude oil from Kazakhstan poured into China Thursday morning through a newly completed petroleum pipeline linking the two countries.

Brownish oil sprang into a petroleum hub in Alataw Pass, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at 3:10 AM Thursday, about 30 hours after Kazakhstan started to pump oil into the pipeline, customs officers at the Alataw Pass told Xinhua.

Technicians with the Sino-Kazakh Oil Pipeline Co. Ltd opened the valve on the China-Kazakhstan border at 7:32 PM Tuesday after instructions were received from their Kazak counterparts in Atasu, who started pumping oil into the pipeline at 8:22 p.m. the same day.

Experts say construction of the oil pipeline is a win-win strategy for both countries as it enhances China's oil supply and proves an ideal outlet for Kazakhstan's oil export.

"It has provided a direct link between Kazakhstan's rich oil resources and China's robust oil consumer market," said Yin Juntai, deputy general-manager of China Petroleum Exploration and Development Company.

Kairgeldy Kabyldin, vice president of Kazakhstan National Petroleum and Natural Gas Company, praised the oil pipeline as a "new paradigm of cooperation" between the two countries.

The pipeline, which extends 962.2 kilometers from Atasu in Kazakhstan to the Alataw Pass of Xinjiang, was completed in November 2005. It cost US$700 million, which was shared between China and Kazakhstan.

It is designed to transmit 20 million tons of oil annually.

In 2005, China imported 1.3 million tons of crude oil from Kazakhstan via Alataw Pass. Insiders predict the figure will climb to 4.75 million tons this year and to around 8 million tons in 2007. 

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2006)