The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's economic planner, has approved the construction of a 20 bcm/year natural gas pipeline connecting gas fields in the Sichuan province (southwestern China) to the Hubei province (central China). The project will be developed by PipeChina's Southwest Pipeline Company. Construction is due to start in December 2022 and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The pipeline will start in the counties of Weiyuan and Luxian in the Sichuan basin, where gas resources are being exploited, and will end at Qianjiang, Hubei, spanning 1,145 km. The project, which includes 12 additional branch lines that will total 431 km, will connect the pipeline to the Chongqing municipality, bringing the total length of the project to 1,576 km. This is the second major pipeline linking the gas-rich Sichuan basin to consumers in eastern China, with the first such project commissioned in 2009.
In September 2022, PipeChina began construction of the fourth pipeline of the country’s West-to-East Natural Gas Transmission Line project, which will attain a length of 3,340 km and will have an initial gas transmission capacity of 15 bcm/year, expected to be brought up to 30 bcm/year. The pipeline will run from Turpan, Wuqia County, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region (northwestern China) to Zhongwei City in the Ningxia Autonomous Region (center-north China).
In 2021, China had proven reserves of natural gas reaching 2,922 bcm, mostly located in the Sichuan basin, the Xinjiang autonomous region and the northeast, as well as in several offshore fields.