Construction of a natural gas pipeline project kicked off in Kuqa City in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Friday.

The project, spanning 2,108 km, will be executed in three phases, with the ongoing first phase covering 616 km.

Upon its completion in 2025, the natural gas pipeline network will interconnect nine counties and cities spanning Kashgar, Aksu Prefecture, the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin, and other prefectures. This will elevate the maximum daily gas supply capacity in southern Xinjiang from the current 27 million cubic meters to 58 million cubic meters, according to Chang Guichuan, an official with PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company.

With the continuous expansion of the gas supply network in Tarim Oilfield, the gas supply capacity has been continuously improved. At present, more than 4,700 km of natural gas pipelines have been built, covering all major cities and towns in the five prefectures of southern Xinjiang.

The annual gas supply capacity of these pipelines has gradually risen to 6 billion cubic meters, and the cumulative gas supply to southern Xinjiang has exceeded 59 billion cubic meters, benefiting more than 8 million people of different ethnic groups.

This entire natural gas pipeline project is expected to encircle the Tarim Basin, and it will provide strong support for the livelihoods of people and the production activities of enterprises in southern Xinjiang.