China has set up a new state-owned enterprise to plan, build and manage oil and gas pipelines.
The centrally-administered organisation has been named the China Oil & Gas Piping Network Corporation, according to the nation’s official Xinhua News Agency.
It aims to interconnect the country’s main fossil fuel pipelines to form a nationwide network – it says this will allow crude oil, refined oil and natural gas to be moved around more effectively and promises it will ensure safer and more stable energy supply.
The state-run press says the move is an important step forward in promoting the reform of China’s oil and gas system and adds the new entity will also control a number of underground natural gas storage facilities and liquefied natural gas terminals.
It said: “The new company will separate [oil and gas] transportation, production and sales and open [transportation] to third-party entities, which will benefit market competition.”