CNPC to expand pipeline construction over next 5 years

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is scheduled to construct about 50,000 kilometers of petroleum pipeline over the next five years, according to a press release on the company's website Monday.
Analysts agree that petroleum pipeline expansion is key to continued fast economic growth.
Zhu Fang, deputy director of market analysis with the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, told the Global Times that, "currently most imported crude oil is transported by sea. Pipeline transportation could greatly bring down the cost of importation."
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economic Research at Xiamen University, said, "over 50 percent of imported oil is transported through the Malacca Strait. More pipelines in the future could mean more resource channels for the country," said Lin.
In the past five years, the CNPC built about 27,000 kilometers of petroleum pipeline. CNPC is planning to double the total kilometer length of pipeline, said the press release.
In June 2010, construction began on the company's pipeline to connect Myanmar and China. The pipeline enters into China through Yunan Province and ended in Chongqing Municipality. The project's petroleum pipeline has an annual capacity of 22 million tons and the gas pipeline, 12 billon cubic meters per year.
Another key pipeline project for the company is the country's third West–East Gas Pipeline, which starts from XinjiangUyghur Autonomous Region and ends at Guangdong Province. The pipeline is expected to put into use in 2014, according to an earlier report of 21 Century Business Herald.
According to statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission, in 2010, imports of crude oil rose 17 percent to 239 million tons, and China's dependence on imported oil jumped to 55 percent from 33 percent in 2009.