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GE wins China pipeline expansion deal
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-13 18:43
General Electric's oil and gas division has won a contract to provide engines
for the expansion of China's west-east gas pipeline capacity to 17 billion cubic
meters, the firm said on Friday.
General Electric Company Chairman and CEO
Jeffrey Immelt answers a question during a news conference in Shanghai
October 23, 2003. [Reuters] |
The deal, worth over $196
million, covers gas turbines, compressors and installation services for 12 new compression stations,
the company said in a statement.
The 4,000-km (2,500 mile) pipeline built by
domestic major PetroChina ferries gas from the deserts of western Xinjiang to
eastern boomtowns, and currently has annual capacity of 12 billion cubic meters.
PetroChina officials have said that in addition to the capacity expansion,
the firm is considering a second cross-country link. It would probably need
feedstock from other countries' gas fields, however.
Equipment for the first eight stations would be shipped and installed this
year, with the remaining four shipped by the end of 2008. All 12 will be in
operation by September 2009, GE said. China has said it wants to expand the
portion of its energy provided by relatively clean-burning natural gas to 8
percent by 2010, from 3 percent now. But rising global prices for natural gas
might lead to a scaling back of plans, analysts say.
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