The Second West-East Gas Pipeline project, undertaken by CNPC, was brought into construction in Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi at the same day.

On February 22, commencement ceremony of this significant project in the 11th Five-Year Plan was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. President Hu Jintao sent a congratulatory letter to the ceremony, calling for to build the pipeline a topping project in terms of both engineering quality and environmental protection. Premier Wen Jiabao gave an important instruction. Vice-premier Zeng Peiyan presented and addressed at the ceremony.

The Second West-East Gas Pipeline will joint the Central Asia Gas Pipeline at Horgos in northwest China''s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and pipe gas imported from Central Asia countries as well as produced from Tarim, Junggar, Tuha and Erdos basins to the Pearl River and Yangtze River delta areas and the central south part of China.

The pipeline, by way of 14 provinces, will comprise one trunk line and eight branches, with a total length of 9,100 km and a total investment of 142.2 billion yuan. The 4,843-km long trunk line is planned to be constructed with X-80 pipeline steel, and has a pipe diameter of 1,219 mm, designed maximum pressure of 12 MPa and designed annual deliverability of 30 billion cubic meters. Once being completed, the pipeline is expected to ensure stable gas delivery for over 30 years.

The Horgos-Zhongwei segment and the Zhongwei-Jingbian segment are planned to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2009. The Zhongwei-Guangzhou segment and the Wongyuan-Shenzhen segment are planned to the completed and put into operation by June 2011. The whole pipeline is planned to be communicated by the end of 2011.

According to estimates by CNPC, the full operation of the Second West-East Gas Pipeline will raise the share of natural gas in the country''s energy consumption by one to two percentage points, while replacing 76.8 million tons of coal and reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide by 1.66 million tons and carbon dioxide by 150 million tons.