PetroChina to build pipeline

PetroChina plans to build a RMB3.5 billion (US$453.01 million) crude oil pipeline to feed its RMB50 billion (US$6.47 billion) refinery and petrochemical project in Sichuan province, the first such large-scale project in southwest China. PetroChina, the nation’s largest oil and gas producer, is conducting a feasibility study on a plan to build a 1,247 km crude oil pipeline linking Lanzhou, Gansu province, and Chengdu, site of the proposed 10 million-ton-a-year refinery and 800,000-ton petrochemical plant, a company spokesman said. The crude oil transported by the pipeline may be sourced from PetroChina’s own oilfields in Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang autonomous region, Changqing in Shaanxi province and Kazakhstan. (April 10, 2007)