Construction nears the half-way stage on the first phase of China's W-E gas pipeline

摘要

Construction work is nearing the half-way stage on the first phase of China's massive 4,000-km West-East gas pipeline project to transport natural gas from remote western China to the fast-developing, energy-hungry, east coast region. In addition to boosting energy supplies in major cities along the pipeline route and in Shanghai, the gas-transmission project is aimed at promoting pollution-free energy consumption and helping reduce China's heavy dependence on coal, which already has caused serious pollution in many major cities. Work on the first stage of the pipeline project started soon after the signing of the West-East gas pipeline joint venture framework agreement on 4 July last year. Although the Chinese government had earlier said that overseas investors would be permitted to own a majority share in the project and would be given access to upstream production and downstream gas markets as part of the overall project package, Chinese investors have taken a majority shareholding, as expected. PetroChina, named by the government as the lead Chinese company in the West-East pipeline scheme, has taken a 50% shareholding, while Sinopec holds a 5% stake. Among the foreign investors, Shell and Hong Kong & China Gas Co (Hong Kong Gas) of Hong Kong have taken a combined 15% share, while ExxonMobil and Gazprom have also taken 15% each.