China has achieved a milestone in the construction of the middle section of its third West-East Gas Pipeline, as PipeChina, the project's operator, on Sunday announced the opening of the Shangshan tunnel, which marks the completion of all 105 tunnels of the pipeline's Zhongwei-Zaoyang section.
The tunnel, located in the Qinling Nature Reserve of northwest China, stretches 6.03 kilometers, making it the longest tunnel in the middle section of the West-East Gas Pipeline 3.
Passing through a forest park with its exit in proximity to cliff tombs and a national wetland park, the tunnel's construction posed significant challenges in terms of quality, safety and environmental preservation. "We have employed the TBM (tunnel boring machine) method to minimize the impact of tunnel construction on the surrounding atmosphere, soundscape, the water environment and cultural heritage sites, and have effectively safeguarded the diversity of wildlife and forest parks," said Wang Benming, manager of Shaanxi division, construction project management company under the PipeChina.
The middle section of the West-East Gas Pipeline 3 spans 1,264.1 km, of which 311 km passes through the rugged hinterland of the Qinling Mountains.
To minimize the impact on the surface soil and thenatural environment during the project's construction, the technicians have employed special tunnel crossing methods.
"The tunnel crossing phase of the project took 24 months, with a total excavation length reaching 113 kilometers. This makes it the project with the highest number of tunnel crossings in the construction of long-distance oil and gas pipelines in China," said Li Feng, an official from the construction project management company under the PipeChina.
The completion of the tunnel marks that 80 percent of the overall progress on the middle section of the West-East Gas Pipeline 3 has now been achieved.
The West-East Gas Pipeline 3 extends across 10 provinces and autonomous regions in China, connecting border, inland and coastal areas, and is designed to have an annual gas transmission capacity of 30 billion cubic meters.
The Pipeline 3 spans a total length of 7,378 kilometers, running from Horgos City of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Fuzhou City of east China's Fujian Province. The project is divided into three sections.
The western section, running from Horgos to Zhongwei City of northeastern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the eastern section, running from Ji'an City of eastern Jiangxi Province to Fuzhou, were completed and put into operation in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
The middle section of the Pipeline 3 extends for 2,090 kilometers and passes through seven provinces and autonomous regions. Its construction commenced officially on Sept 23, 2021.
Once the middle section is completed, the connection between western energy resources and eastern natural gas markets will be further strengthened, increasing the overall gas transmission capacity by approximately 25 billion cubic meters annually.
China has been accelerating the construction of oil and gas pipeline infrastructure in recent years. In 2023, the total length of long-distance natural gas pipelines in the country reached 124,000 kilometers, an increase of more than 4,000 kilometers over the previous year. A new increase of more than 4,000 kilometers in pipeline mileage is anticipated for this year.
China's energy supply and security capabilities have been significantly enhanced. The West-East Gas Pipeline has supplied over 960 billion cubic meters of gas since it was put into operation, and the daily gas supply capacity of China's national pipeline network exceeds one billion cubic meters.
"The primary transmission capacity of China's natural gas pipeline network increased from 223 billion cubic meters in 2020 to 329 billion cubic meters in 2023, an increase of 48 percent," said Yang An, deputy general manager of the marketing branch under the PipeChina.
China's natural gas infrastructure construction has been accelerating, and its gas storage capacity has also seen further improvements, according to a report recently released by the National Energy Administration.
The new gas storage capacity reached 7.6 billion cubic meters in 2023, and the total liquefied natural gas receiving capacity was stabilized at around 120 million tons per year, said the report.
China makes breakthrough in constructing West-East Gas Pipeline 3
