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Pipeline to open in 2002
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NATURAL gas is expected to be piped from southwest China's Sichuan Province to central China's Hunan Province next year.
According to the State's natural gas exploitation plan, a pipeline will be constructed to transport natural gas from the country's west to its east. And, gas in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality will mainly be piped to Hubei and Hunan provinces in central China.
Construction will start as soon as the provinces finish negotiations on the gas transportation with Petro China. The pipeline construction to Hunan is scheduled to be finished within 18 months.
The Sichuan basin has a verified gas reserve of 459.2 billion cubic metres. Next year five cities in Hunan will have their gas pipelines linked up with the basin. By then, natural gas will replace oil and diesel as industrial fuel and major automobile fuel in the cities.
The pipeline from Chongqing to Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, will soon be built, providing three billion cubic metres of gas annually for the industrial centre.
Gas is considered crucial to industrial development and environmental protection in the two provinces.
(Xinhua)
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