New section of China-Russia gas pipeline put into operation

A section of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline linking Anping, North China’s Hebei Province with Taian, East China’s Shandong Province, has been put into operation, with a designed capacity of 18.9 billion cubic meters a year, China Oil and Gas Pipeline Network Corporation (PipeChina) announced.

It marks further improvement of the energy channel in eastern China, the company said.

The Anping-Taian section is an important part of the southern section of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline. The total length of the line is 320 kilometers, with a pipe diameter of 1,219 mm and a design pressure of 10 megapascals (MPa). Construction of the section started in October 2020.

“During the construction period, we overcame difficulties such as complex construction in the mountains, frequent floods and repeated epidemic outbreaks,” said Zhang Tiancheng, a project manager at PipeChina, adding that technologies such as automatic welding have been widely adopted to improve efficiency.

After the whole line is put into operation, it will fully open up the energy channel in eastern China and promote the upgrading of the industrial structure and high-quality economic development in the areas along the pipeline, said Zhang. It is also of great significance for building a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system, Zhang noted.

The full China-Russia east route is a pipeline system spanning more than 8,000 kilometers, with a 3,000-km section in Russia and a 5,111-km stretch in China. It transmits natural gas from Siberia to nine provincial-level regions in China, according to a report from the Xinhua news agency.

It has been divided into three sections: the northern section from Heilongjiang’s Heihe to Changling in Northeast China’s Jilin Province; the middle section from Changling to Yongqing in North China’s Hebei Province; and the southern section from Yongqing to East China’s Shanghai.

The northern section was put into use in 2019 and the middle section in 2020. The southern section is under construction and is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2025.