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China launches new gas pipeline to boost energy security, accelerating eastern region's development

Global Times

By Ma Tong Published: Aug 25, 2025 01:29 PM

The Sichuan-to-East Gas Transmission Pipeline, designed to channel natural gas from Southwest China's Sichuan Province to the eastern regions, is making strong headway, with the first section of its second line now operational, according to China Media Group (CMG) on Monday.

The new section will add nearly 3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas transmission capacity each year, the report said, a sign of progress that analysts said will inject fresh momentum into the country's energy structure optimization and economic development.

The pipeline serves as a major energy project under 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), and a key component of China's backbone natural gas pipeline network, known as "four strategic corridors plus five vertical and five horizontal lines." Its second line runs about 4,269 kilometers from Luzhou in Sichuan to Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province, the CMG report said.

The newly activated segment stretches 56.15 kilometers, starting from the Anyue gas field in Ziyang, Sichuan, and ending at the Tongliang compressor station in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, according to CMG.

Natural gas from the Anyue gas field can now seamlessly link with the national gas network system, said the CMG report, citing an official of the Chongqing branch of PetroChina's southwest pipeline company, the project developer.

"This provides a new channel for shipping natural gas resources from Sichuan and Chongqing to other regions, accelerating the building of a production base with an annual output of 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the area," the official noted, adding that it will also improve the efficiency of resource utilization along the pipeline's route.

The smooth launch of this section reflects Chinese efficiency and the rapid implementation capability involving major energy projects, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told Global Times on Monday.

"This project not only enables more effective delivery of Sichuan's natural gas to other regions, but also represents a major step forward in boosting national energy security and supply strategy," Lin said.

Construction of the second line of the Sichuan-to-East Gas Transmission Pipeline began in September 2023. The project runs through Sichuan, Chongqing, Central China's Hubei and Henan provinces, and East China's Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, the Xinhua News Agency reported earlier.

It is being developed in two phases, with the western section covering Sichuan, Chongqing and Hubei, and the eastern section spanning Hubei to Fujian and Zhejiang, Xinhua said.

The newly operational section will also connect with China's West-East gas pipeline system, and the Jiangsu-Anhui line, linking natural gas from the southwest with coastal liquefied natural gas resources and markets across central and eastern China, the report said.

"Sichuan boasts abundant natural gas resources. Transporting these to energy-starved regions helps balance supply and demand," Lin said, noting that while a single project has a modest impact on national energy consumption, interconnected pipelines can have a substantial cumulative effect.

The Sichuan-to-East Gas Transmission Pipeline, once fully operational by 2027, will have annual capacity of 26 bcm, according to Xinhua. The project will enhance living standards, speed up the energy structure's shift, and support the high-quality growth of the Yangtze River economic belt.

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, China's oil and gas pipeline network has entered a new stage of physical interconnection and open, fair access, with the "one national network" accelerating its formation, according to CMG.

China's main oil and gas pipelines extend over 100,000 kilometers, with transmission capacity rising 76 percent from 2020 to March 2025, the CMG report said. This year, the national pipeline network will be further consolidated into a "five verticals and five horizontals" framework, strengthening the country's ability to ensure stable oil and gas supplies.