The Chinese company China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network Corporation (PipeChina) has begun construction on the fourth pipeline of the country’s West-to-East Natural Gas Transmission Line project. This fourth section of the project will attain a length of 3,340 km and will have an initial gas transmission capacity of 15 bcm/year, which is 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).
Once the fourth phase is completed, the West-to-East Natural Gas Transmission Line project is expected to reach a total capacity of over 100 bcm/year. The first pipeline runs between Xinjiang and Shanghai (4,380 km), has a capacity of 17 bcm/year and became operational in 2004. The second pipeline runs from Xinjiang to Guangdong (8,819 km), has a capacity of 30 bcm/year and became operational in 2012. The third pipeline also runs from Xinjiang to Guangdong (6,840 km), has a capacity of 30 bcm/year and became operational in 2016. PetroChina Pipelines, a subsidiary of PetroChina, manages and operates the pipelines of the project.