(Yicai Global) Dec. 3 -- The middle section of the China-Russia East Route natural gas pipeline became functional today following the opening of the outbound valve in Changling, Jilin province.

This means clean-burning natural gas from Russia can now be piped to China's capital Beijing and the rest of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China Oil and Gas Pipeline Network said today via its WeChat public account.

When fully completed, the pipeline will run 5,111 kilometers from Heihe in northern Heilongjiang province through to Shanghai on China’s eastern seaboard. Some 3,371 km of the stretch has been built. It is the third long-distance trans-border pipeline to supply natural gas to China after the Central Asia-China gas pipeline and the Myanmar-China Oil and Gas Pipelines.

The China-Russia East Route natural gas pipeline has three sections: north, from Heihe to Changling; middle, from Changling to Yongqing, Hebei province; and south, from Yongqing to Shanghai. The north section started to supply gas on Dec. 2 last year and the south section is under construction.

The middle part that opened today is expected to help improve air quality in the Bohai Rim region, as well as spur economic development and improve the regional energy structure. Through its connection to the existing pipeline network in China’s north and northeast and the Shaanxi-Beijing pipelines, it can also increase the daily gas supply to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region by 27 million cubic meters, providing residents in northern China with cleaner energy this winter.

The pipeline's north section has already delivered nearly 4 billion cbm of Russian natural gas to China, and once all three sections are up and running, the maximum annual gas supply can reach 38 billion cbm, supplying 400 million people along the route.

Construction of the south section started in July. It is expected to deliver 18.9 billion cbm of gas to the Yangtze River Delta each year after its completion in 2025.

Editor: Tom Litting