Staff members inspect the gas-distributing and compressing station of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline in the city of Heihe, the first stop after the Russia-supplied natural gas enters China, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Nov. 19, 2019. The China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline was put into operation on Monday. The pipeline is scheduled to provide China with 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in 2020 and the amount is expected to increase to 38 billion cubic meters annually from 2024, under a 30-year contract worth 400 billion U.S. dollars signed between the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Russian gas giant Gazprom in May 2014. The cross-border gas pipeline has a 3,000-km section in Russia and a 5,111-km stretch in China. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

The middle section of the China-Russia east route natural gas project began operation on Thursday, providing a stable natural gas supply to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to a release by the China Oil & Gas Piping Network Corporation.

The middle section links transmission stations between Changling in Northeast China's Jilin Province, to Yongqing, North China's Hebei province intersecting five provincial-regions including Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Hebei, and Tianjin. 

The middle section, which began construction in July 2019, has a total length of 1,110 kilometers. It will increase China' gas supply capacity by 27 million cubic meters per day, ensuring a stable gas supply throughout North China's winter heating season while improving air quality and the energy mix in the Bohai Economic Rim.

The project is connected using a domestic pipeline network including the Shaan-Jing pipeline system and Tangshan LNG storage facilities, enhancing peak shaving capacity, and boosting interconnectivity for natural gas in China.

The China-Russia east route natural gas project originated in Heihe city in North China's Heilongjiang Province, passing through nine provincial-regions, and terminating in Shanghai. It is China's third cross-border natural gas pipeline project with a total length of 5,111 kilometers following the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline, the Central-Asia-China gas pipeline. 

The whole line is divided into three sections: the northern section (Heihe-Changling), the middle section (Changling-Yongqing), and the southern section (Yongqing-Shanghai). The northern section began operating in December, 2019.

Global Times