Kazakhstan set to open pipeline to China
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-15 07:05

The launch of the Chinese pipeline comes months after the opening of another alternative export route for Kazakh oil — the 1,100-mile pipeline that runs from the Azerbaijani port capital of Baku, via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

The oil pipeline linking China and Kazakhstan. [Xinhua]

Earlier this year, China National Petroleum Corp. bought Kazakhstan's third-biggest oil producer, Canada-based PetroKazakhstan, whose energy assets are all in Kazakhstan and include one of the country's three oil refineries.

China also signed gas exploration contracts in Uzbekistan, and it is expected to sign a major natural gas supply deal with Turkmenistan in January.

The Kazakh-Chinese pipeline will initially carry oil from the Kumkol field in central Kazakhstan, which used to be operated by PetroKazakhstan. By 2011, when it reaches full capacity, the pipeline is expected to be used to ship oil from Russia's western Siberia.