Top Chinese top oil and gas producer PetroChina is planning to build two domestic oil product pipelines connecting central regions with the northeast and northwest, the China Daily reported.

The projects are slated to cost a combined 12 billion yuan ($1.49 billion), will take one to two years to build and should be in operation by 2008 at the latest, said the paper, quoting a senior company official.
One will carry eight million tonnes annually from the capital of Gansu province, Lanzhou to Zhengzhou in central Henan. The other pipeline, with up to 4 million tonnes capacity, will connect Henan with Jinzhou in northeastern Liaoning, the paper said.
Industry sources expect severe product shortages of up to 10 million tonnes annually in central China by 2010, which the pipelines could help stave off.
Although foreign and domestic investors have been pouring money into new refineries, upgrades and expansions, most have been along the coast, near oil fields or within reach of feedstock supplies from oil-producing neighbours.
The products the new pipes carry will come from refineries processing imported Kazakh and Russian crude, the paper added.
China is building a network of domestic oil pipelines to improve supplies.
It relies on imported crude for more than 40 per cent of its oil, and is keen to diversify suppliers and supply routes.
It recently start receiving crude through an international link with Kazakhstan and is also considering a gas pipeline along the same route and one connecting it to Russia's gas reserves.