China gas pipe ready to serve Hong Kong

China's largest oil and gas producer announced Wednesday that its second west-to-east gas pipeline is ready to supply natural gas to Hong Kong.

The pipeline, as a key project sending natural gas from resource-rich west to starved east, aims to ease Hong Kong's energy shortage while curbing pollution.

Branch lines linking Hong Kong with the West-East pipeline went into operation on Wednesday.

China National Petroleum Corporation says the lines, originated from Shenzhen, a booming hub just north of Hong Kong, have a combined length of over 80 kilometers.

The company says most of the natural gas will be used for power generation at Hong Kong's Black Point Power station, accounting for a quarter of the region's electricity consumption.

The move helps Hong Kong government to generate half of the region's power by gas by 2015.

China's second west-to-east gas pipeline runs from northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to southern Guangdong Province.

It can transfer 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually and is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.