The West-East Gas Pipeline, which was constructed by China National Petroleum Corp over a period of around four years, on Feb. 25 officially passed inspection by the Chinese government and began operations.

CNPC said that during the project's five-year pilot operation program, the pipeline delivered a total of 65.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas, accounting for about 50% of the China's gas consumption in the period.

Tarim Oil Field, which is located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and is the principal gas supplying base of the West-East Gas Pipeline project, had proven gas reserves of 1.06 trillion cu m as of the end of last year.

In 2009, the oil field's gas output was 20 billion cu m. The production for 2008, which accounted for one-fourth of China's total, was 76 billion cu m.

(China Knowledge Mar. 2010)