A key extension of the East Route natural gas pipeline to Shanghai was completed earlier this week
© Getty Images / Nikada
The final section of the East Route pipeline has come into operation, pumping Russian natural gas from Siberia to one of China’s most populous regions, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday.
The news comes after construction company PipeChina announced the completion of a key section of the pipeline to Shanghai.
Covering 5,111 km on Chinese territory, the East Route pipeline enters the country via the border city of Heihe in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, and passes through nine provinces, supplying natural gas to areas along the way, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin.
The new route will increase the gas supply capacity of the Yangtze River Delta region to about 50 million cubic meters per day, alleviating the local reliance on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), PipeChina said via its official WeChat channel on Wednesday, as cited by the South China Morning Post.
READ MORE: Russia boosts fuel exports to China
The East Route, part of a 30-year agreement between Russia’s Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation, was partially launched in December 2019, becoming the first pipeline to supply Russian gas to China.
The route is expected to supply some 38 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia to China annually, meeting the consumption needs of about 130 million urban households.
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