PetroChina parent's Xinjiang oil pipeline enters operations

China National Petroleum Corp, the parent of PetroChina Co Ltd (HK 0857), said its oil pipeline serving oil fields in Xinjiang region has entered commercial operations, which has linked with the Sino-Kazakhstan crude pipeline.

The 433-kilometer oil pipeline links Dushanzi refinery with Urumqi via Kalamayi oil field, and has a designed capacity of two mln tons.

China and Kazakhstan invested a combined 700 mln usd in the 962.2-kilometer Atasu-Alashankou pipeline which was completed in November 2005.

The pipeline is ultimately designed to carry 20 mln tons of crude oil per annum, with annual output of 10 mln tons in its initial stages.

China and Kazakhstan have agreed to extend an oil pipeline that will link mainland China to the Caspian Sea, giving Beijing direct access to an energy-rich region controlled by Kazakhstan.