China oil, gas pipelines to reach 140,000 km by 2015

China's oil and gas pipelines is expected to reach 140,000 kilometers by 2015 as some 350 billion yuan of investment will be put on the construction of pipelines in the next five years, according to a report by China Securities Journal on March 24. By 2015, the country's oil and gas pipelines are expected to reach 140,000 km, said an expert with China Petroleum Planning and Engineering Institute, a research arm of PetroChina's parent CNPC.

The country will build 300,000 km of natural gas pipelines, 100, 000 km of crude oil pipelines and 100,000 to 150,000 km of product oil pipelines during 2011- 2015. The construction of these new oil and gas pipelines is estimated to cost 350 billion yuan and use 16 million metric tons of s teel pipes, according to the CPPEI expert.

Meanwhile, China will speed up the development of large natural gas fields each with annual output of over 20 billion cu. m and stabilize the annual crude output at around 200 million tons during 2011 t o 2015. It aims to form an annual crude run of 600 million tons and an annual product oil output of 310 million tons in 2015.