China's National Oil and Gas Pipeline Network Group (PipeChina) has announced the completion of the 38 bcm/year China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline, and that the pipeline has now entered its final commissioning phase. The east-route pipeline spans 5,111 km, including 3,371 km of newly built sections.
The Chinese section starts in Heihe, Heilongjiang Province, on the border with Russia, and extends southward through 9 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, all the way to Shanghai. Once fully operational, the pipeline will supply natural gas to three eastern provinces, Northeast China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the Yangtze River Delta, in volumes sufficient to meet the annual gas needs of 130 million Chinese households.
The east-route pipeline is connected to the Power of Siberia pipeline which transports Russian gas to China. A second project, Power of Siberia 2, is currently under consideration and could have a capacity of 50 bcm/year.