China's pipeline projects transmitting crude oil and oil products across the western regions will be in operation this year, said sources with a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Wednesday.

 

The two projects, one for crude oil and the other for oil products, will pump oil from Urumqi, capital of northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Lanzhou, capital of northwestern Gansu Province.

 

According to the company in charge of the pipeline construction, the pipeline for oil products will be available this May while the one for crude oil will be ready at the end of October.

 

Ling Xiao, general manager of the company, said that the oil products pipeline had been linked up completely and refined oil is being pumped into the tank at Urumqi in line with the schedule.

 

Before the crude oil pipeline is put into operation, a pipeline of 355 kilometers has to be sealed and the construction of two tanks for crude oil in Lanzhou has to be completed,

 

Both with a volume of 150,000 cubic meters, they are the biggest tanks of the CNPC, China's largest oil producer, and their construction requires high technology and hard work, said Ling.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2006)