China has completed the construction of 16,500 kilometers of oil and gas pipelines ahead of schedule for the 14th Five-Year Plan, thus making energy supply more secure, stable and flexible, according to China Oil and Gas Piping Network Corporation (PipeChina).

This year, the Turpan-Zhongwei section of China's fourth west-to-east gas transmission pipeline was completed and put into operation, and the first tunnel of the Guozigou section for the country's second and third west-to-east gas transmission pipelines was also completed.

The first section of the second Sichuan-to-East Gas Transmission Pipeline has been put into operation, and a number of major energy channels and interconnection projects are being accelerated.

Over 18,000 kilometers of pipelines have gone into operation across China. The annual capacity of primary pipeline transportation of natural gas has increased from 260 billion cubic meters in 2021 to 412 billion cubic meters currently.

At present, China's pipeline networks of natural gas, crude oil and refined oil have maximized their interconnectivity. Under the unified resources allocation and management, the trans-provincial pipeline transmission price of natural gas has dropped by five percent compared with five years ago, saving 12 billion yuan (about 1.68 billion U.S. dollars) in social energy costs annually.

Meanwhile, in the fields of technological innovation and green development, the import substitution rate of key equipment has risen to 97.5 percent, and complete sets of standards have been established for technologies such as hydrogen energy transportation and carbon dioxide storage.

About 42 percent of the pipeline operation areas across the country have achieved digital monitoring, promoting the accelerated transformation of energy supply towards high-end, intelligent and green development.