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China, Kazakh pipeline 30 percent complete

China, Kazakh pipeline 30 percent complete
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published July 18, 2005

BEIJING -- The construction of the oil pipeline stretching from Atasu in central Kazakhstan to Alashankou in western China is 30 percent complete.

"Cooperation between our nations is now at another level, that of the realization of great projects, and this pipeline is the first great bilateral project we have launched this year," said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

"The length of the trench which had been dug out is over 186 miles and the length of the pipes laid is 124 miles," said Nurbol Sultanov, deputy general director for development of the KazTransOil joint-stock company, July 13 in Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh officials said more than 60 percent of the materials used for the pipeline's construction had already been prepared. Funding is also being supplied in line with the schedule, with $300 million already being used thus far.

"We intend to commission the pipeline by the time the first snow falls, i.e. by Dec. 16 (Independence Day in Kazakhstan) the pipeline will be fully laid and dug in," added Sultanov. "I think that from Jan. 1, 2006, we shall start filling the pipeline."

The 624-mile long Atasau-Alashankou pipeline is the second phase of the petroleum transportation project between Kazakhstan and China. The pipeline starts from the rail ink at Atasau in the Karaganda region in central Kazakhstan and crosses the border at the Droujba-Alashankou rail terminal.

The cost of the construction of this section of the pipeline is estimated at $700 million. Private investments in the project are at $650 million.


LINK: http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050718-023223-1016r