Economists watching the west-east gas pipeline project point out
that the construction of this long distance, large-caliber pipeline
will do more that enhance the energy base of East China. Along its
route it will impact on the potential development of such
industries as iron and steel and cement manufacture. There will be
knock on benefits to the mechanical and electronic engineering
sectors in the provinces it passes through.
The pipeline will straddle 10 provinces and autonomous regions. It
may be expected to require 37 million cubic meters of earthworks.
It will consume 1.7 million tons of steel and massive material
resources in cement, timber, compressors, instrumentation,
automated valves etc.
46
billion yuan (US $5.6 billion) will be invested in the trunk lines
of the pipeline project. Besides this, there will be an input of
another 100 billion yuan (about US $12 billion) necessary to tap
the oil fields at source and to lay down subsidiary pipeline
networks in the cities along the corridor. Such expenditures make
this a very major investment indeed. The Western provinces expect
to benefit from about 34 billion yuan (about US $4 billion) of this
and have high hopes for the creation of new jobs against a
background of stimulation of market forces.
On
completion of the pipeline project, Tarim basin gas can be expected
to generate 570 thousand tons of light hydrocarbons and 910
thousand tons of liquefied methane gas. Now the relevant government
departments and enterprises in the field are drafting blueprints
for the use of these quality raw materials to support large-scale
ethane production. They wish to seize the opportunity to expand the
chemical industry as a locomotive industry' driving general
economic development further forward.
Experts hold that west-to-east gas transfer will accelerate the
restructuring of the industrial base in the Yangtze River Delta
area. When the volume of gas exported to East China reaches 20
billion cubic meters a year, it will have become equivalent to a
supply of some 20 million tons of crude oil or 27 million tons of
coal. If this gas could all be applied to the production of
chemical fertilizer or electricity energy, it could be made into 15
million tons of synthetic ammonia or generate 100 billion kw of
electrical energy.
Gas flowing to the domestic fuel market in East China will in turn
stimulate development in the local manufacturing, installation and
construction sectors. In Shanghai, Jiangsu province and Zhejiang
province alone, there are 17 million households in need of natural
gas. In ten years, this number will reach 34 million, signaling a
potential market value of 60 billion yuan in the mechanic and civil
engineering sectors. Moreover, suppliers of domestic appliances
using the energy-saving and environment-friendly natural gas will
also enjoy an unprecedented boom in production and sales.