OREANDA-NEWS.  November 08, 2012. The length of China's oil and gas pipelines reached more than 90,000 kilometers by now, more than triple that of in ten years ago, while the country will still witness a rapid expansion of oil and gas pipeline networks in the next 5-10 years during advent of the fresh peak period of oil and natural gas pipelines construction said Zhao Yujian, head of China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

According to Zhao, the oil and gas pipeline length was less than 30,000 kilometers in 2004.

The peak period will last five to ten years and is marked by the commencement of building with the 3rd West-to-East natural gas pipelines and line-C of Central Asia natural gas pipelines, said Zhao in a recent interview, without giving his estimation on the newly added pipeline length.

Zhao said China is working on the planning of the 4th and 5th West-to-East natural gas pipelines and would kick off the building of 4th Shaanxi-Beijing natural gas pipelines in 2013.

The construction of line-D of Central Asia natural gas pipelines is expected to start in 2013 following the launch of building work with line-C in September 2012, according to Zhao.

The capacity of Sino-Russia crude oil pipelines crossing northeast China would be doubled to 30 million tonnes from 15 million tonnes with Sino-Russia natural gas pipelines under planning, Zhao said.

Sino-Myanmar natural gas pipelines in the southwest are expected to come on stream in May 2013 with construction work gaining steam, added Zhao.

The intra-provincial pipelines and linking pipelines also would see great development, according to Zhao.

The forming of a single pipeline network across the country would prompt coordinated shipment of oil and gas resources with higher efficiency, noted Zhao.

The new oil and gas pipelines would have big diameters, long distance and high pressure with the utilization of high grade iron and participation of diverse investors, said Zhao.

Statistics showed that the mileage of Chinese oil and gas pipelines has topped 90,000 km by now from less than 30,000 km in 2004.

CNPC, the parent company of China's top oil and gas producer PetroChina (PTR.NYSE; 00857.HK; 601857.SH), is the largest oil and gas pipeline builder and operator in China.