West-to-East Gas Pipeline Project
3 min readThe West to East Gas Pipeline Project is one of the landmark engineering projects of China’s implementation of the West China Development，and also the pipeline project with the longest distance，the heaviest caliber and the highest steel quality in the pipeline history of China.The pipeline has a total of about 4000 kilometers，from the Tarim 0ilfield in Xinjiang in the west to Shanghai in the east，passing through Gansu，Ningxia，Shaanxi，Shanxi，Henan，Anhui，and Jiangsu.
According to plan，the Shaanxi-Shanghai section will be put into operation for natural gas supply in October 1，2003；and the end of 2004 will complete the whole pro ject.
The entire pipeline will be divided into 27 construction bid sections，pipeline engineering designed pressure being 10MPa，pipe diameter 1 016mm.The whole pipeline adopts X70 material quality，with the grade one area using corkscrew pipes，while the grade two to four，using transversal joint submerged-arc welded pipe.The pipeline crosses 1 time the Yangtze River，3 times the Yellow River，1 time the Huai River，and 8 times other big rivers，with 21 land-based tunnels.The entire pipelineshall set up a total of 34 technique stations and 138 pipeline block valve rooms.
Communication system mainly adopts satellite communication，and silicon pipeline shall be laid in the same ditch along with the entire pipeline.
ABest“Win-Win”Choice for the East and West
People compare the west-to-east gas pipelining project to a golden bridge featuring”win-win”for the east and west，erected between the western region withsuperior resources and the vast market of the eastern region.Indeed，the west-to-east gas pipelining project converts the resources advantage of the western region into real economic benefits，the western region is the greatest beneficiary.
Input into the development of Xinjiang’s gas-fields can bring Xinjiang an additional financial revenue of over 1 billion Yuan，the areas along the western region outside Xinjiang will also receive no small benefits.The 4000 km-long west-to-east gas pipelining project involves an investment of 43.5 billion Yuan，67percent of which will be used in the construction of the western region.
So，this project playing a major stimulating role is regarded as a very rare opportunity by the western region and an indicative project marking the large-scale development of the western region.
The destination of this project is the richest Yangtze River Delta.The eastern region is poor in resources.This region relies on 85 percent of resources transferred in from other regions.A survey shows that in the coming decade the demand for natural gas here will increase from this year’s over 2 billion cubic meters to over 20 billion cubic meters by a colossal 10 fold by the year 2010！This represents a vast market space for the development of China’s natural gas industry.
After this project is put into use，a planned annual volume of over 2 billion cubic meters will be carried down along the line to supply the Yangtze Delta for its 10 billion cubic meter plan，this 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas mean a substitute of 9-million-ton standard coal and the reduction in the discharge of 270000 tons of smoke dust.
For this，Minister of the State Development Planning Commission Zeng Peiyan points out this is a project of important strategic significance.It will bring benefits not only to various ethnic groups of Xinjiang，and to people in various provinces，autonomous regions and municipalities along the line，but will also help improve China’s energy composition and reduce atmospheric pollution，so it is a most realistic choice for China’s sustainable development.
