On June 30, the eastern section of the trunk Second West-East Gas Pipeline was put into operation. Arriving of natural gas at Guangzhou from Turkmenistan marks the full completion and operation of the 4,978km-long trunk line, China's first pipeline to introduce natural gas from abroad.

The Second West-East Gas Pipeline is a single energy project that draws the heaviest investment in the history of the country, and also boasts the longest distance, the highest transporting pressure and steel grade, and the heaviest workload in the world.

With a total investment of RMB 142.2 billion, the project includes one trunk line and eight branches which travel 8,704 kilometers through 15 provinces and regions from Xinjiang's Horgos to Shanghai in the east, and to the south reaches at Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The pipeline is designed to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of gas per annum, for 30 years.

As of today, the Second West-East Gas Pipeline has delivered accumulatively 11.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Central Asia. The sections connected to other pipelines in China have reached 21 provinces and regions, benefiting more than 100 million people. The remaining engineering of the project is now in full swing and is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, covering 400 million people.