China unveils plans to expand, upgrade oil and gas pipelines
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and National Energy Administration (NEA) unveiled plans to expand and upgrade China’s oil and gas pipeline network over the next decade.
The network should reach a total length of 169,000 km by 2020, they said in a joint statement. This would comprise 32,000 km of pipelines for crude oil, 33,000 km for refined oil and 104,000 km for natural gas. China currently has 112,000 km of oil and gas pipelines.
And by 2025, the network should reach a total length of 240,000 km, of which natural gas pipelines will comprise 123,000 km, according to the new goal.
The target envisages all Chinese cities with a population of at least 1 MM people being connected by a pipeline for refined fuel by that date, while those with more than 500,000 residents will have access to gas pipelines.
The project will support Beijing’s target of increasing gas’ share of China’s energy mix to 10% by the end of 2020, from around 6.5% currently. The move could also support the share prices of Chinese gas distributors, which have already surged around 30% on average so far this year.
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