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Oil pipeline starts commercial operation

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-12 14:01

Crude oil from Kazakhstan poured into a petroleum tank in Alataw pass, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at 18:45 Tuesday through a cross-border pipeline, marking the beginning of the commercial operation for China's first direct oil import pipeline.

Experts say the move will help enhance China's oil supply and provide an ideal outlet for Kazakhstan's oil export. Currently, the oil flux is only around 120 cubic metes per hour due to the valve failure in a Kazakhstan, Zhu Minjie, a customs officer at the Alataw Pass told Xinhua.

It will take 15 days to fill up the 50,000-cubic-meter oil tank before the oil is piped to Dushanzi in Karamay where the country's largest oil refinery plant will become operational in 2008 to produce 5.5 million tons of refined oil a year, said Zhu.

The 960-km pipeline was jointly developed by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the Kazakh state energy company, Kazmunaigaz and it is designed to transmit 20 million tons of oil a year, 15 percent of China's total crude oil imports for 2005.

The first phase of the pipeline will transmit 10 million tons of oil a year, a figure that will double when the entire project is completed in 2011.

The total length of the pipeline would then be around 3,000 kilometers. China has set up an oil meterage station at the Alataw Pass, from where the crude oil from Kazakhstan enters China.

Industry insiders say construction of the oil pipeline is a win-win strategy for both countries as it will hopefully ease China's energy dearth and provide an ideal destination market for Kazakhstan's rich oil resources.

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.