Chinese energy group China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has started building the Chinese section of the second phase of a crude oil pipeline to Russia.
The 942 km-long pipeline project, crossing Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia, will double the capacity of the existing Mohe-Daqing pipeline (commissioned in 2011), from 15 Mt/year to 30 Mt/year. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of October 2017 and the pipeline should be put into commercial operation on 1 January 2018.
The pipeline project is part of a cooperation agreement signed by China and Russia in March 2013. In June 2013, CNPC and Rosneft signed a long-term agreement on increasing oil deliveries, planning to transport 15 Mt/year of crude oil to China via the Second Russia-China Crude Pipeline from January 2018. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China approved the construction of the project in March 2014.