China receives 5.8 bcm central Asia gas

China had received 5.824 billion cubic metres of natural gas from central Asia by Tuesday via its first cross-border gas pipeline since it was launched, China Petroleum Daily reported on Feb. 16. Top Chinese oil and gas producer China National Petroleum Corp started in late 2009 operating the pipeline, which will send 17 bcm of gas to China in 2011.

The line will have shipping capacity of 30 bcm per year by end-2011. The pipeline runs nearly 2,000 kilometres through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before entering Chinese territory in the northwestern Xinjiang region and connecting to domestic gas pipelines.