Kazakhstan, China Inaugurate Pipeline

(RFE/RL) 15 December 2005 -- Kazakh and Chinese officials today inaugurated a pipeline that will carry oil from Kazakhstan to China.

The 1,000-kilometer pipeline links Atasu in central Kazakhstan to Alashanku on the Chinese border.

It was built, at a reported cost of $700 million, in a joint venture between the state-run energy companies KazMunaiGaz and China National Petroleum Corporation.

Plans call for the pipeline to eventually carry some 20 million tons of oil annually to energy-hungry China.

Earlier this year, China purchased Kazakhstan's previously Canadian-owned oil producer PetroKazakhstan, whose energy assets are all in Kazakhstan.

(AP/AFP)