Kazakhstan-China Pipeline
The Kazakhstan-China pipeline will export Caspian oil to serve China's growing energy needs. Construction began on the second segment of the Kazakhstan-China pipeline in late September 2004. The 613-mile-long pipeline from Atasu, in northwestern Kazakhstan, to Alataw Pass in China's northwestern Xinjiang region will be completed in December 2005. The second stage of this project will have an estimated cost of $850 million. The first section of the Kazakhstan-China pipeline was completed in 2003 and runs across Western Kazakhstan from the oil fields of the Aktobe region to the oil hub Atyrau. The pipeline is expected to have an initial capacity of around 200,000 bbl/d, which will eventually be expanded to 400,000 bbl/day. The Kazakh and Chinese national oil companies are jointly financing the project, yet the Chinese oil company will be responsible for filling the pipeline from its oilfields in Kazakhstan once it is finished. The quantity of crude oil supplied to China through this route will still represent only a small percentage (i.e. less than 5%) of China's expected oil demand by the time the project reaches completion.
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