The World's Longest Project: Natural Gas Transmission from West to East China, the Second Trunk Line

Jun 30, 2011

On June 30th, the eastern section 2nd trunk line of Natural Gas Transmission from West to East China went into operation, marking the completion of the project. The 4,978km-long trunk line is China's first pipeline to transport natural gas from abroad. At 9:05 a.m., the Vice President of CNPC, Mr. Liao Yongyuan commanded the start of the trunk line at Guangzhou station, and then opened the valve together with Li Chunhong, deputy secretary-general of People's Government of Guangdong Province. The ignition of the torch indicated the arrival of natural gas from Turkmenistan to Guangzhou.

The 2nd west-east gas pipeline is a single energy project that draws the heaviest investment in the history of the country, and also boasts the longest distance, the highest transporting pressure and steel grade, and the heaviest workload in the world. The pipeline is a key energy infrastructure construction project and an important project for people's well-being in the country's 11th Five-Year Plan. With a total investment of 142.2 billion CNY, the project includes one trunk line and eight branches which travel 8,704 kilometers through 15 provinces and regions from Xinjiang's Horgos to Shanghai in eastern China, and to the south reaches at Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The pipeline is designed to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of gas per annum, for 30 years.

Operation of the 2nd west-east gas pipeline will help raise the proportion of natural gas in China's primary energy consumption by 1-2%, cutting the use of 76.8 million tons of standard coal, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 130 million tons, sulfur dioxide by 1.44 million tons and dust by 660,000 tons per year. The project also helps to promote the development of dozens of related industries including mechanical, electronics and metallurgical, which draw direct investment of over 300 billion CNY. In addition, the X80 steel line products used for the project, was domestically developed and manufactured, promoting China's pipeline construction to world's leading position.

Passing through snowy mountains, deserts, swamps, as well as more than 60 hills and 190 rivers, the pipeline project underwent extremely arduous construction conditions of various geologies and landscapes. By adopting the advanced project group management mode and utilizing various construction resources on a global scale, CNPC managed to complete construction of the trunk line ahead of schedule. With 50 thousand people working for the project, primary welding qualification rate reaching 98.48%, and 11 billion CNY being saved for the procurement costs by centralized purchasing, we have worked numerous miracles in the world's pipeline construction history. During construction engineering, we paid great attention to environmental protection and land saving, and were granted the title of "Soil and Water Conservation Demonstration Project" by the nation's Ministry of Water Resources.