China on Friday launched its second west-to-east natural gas transmission pipeline, which will mainly carry natural gas from Turkmenistan and China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas, the country's two most developed regions.

Construction of the 9,102-kilometer gas pipeline, which consists of a main line and eight sub-lines, will cost an investment of 142.2 billion yuan (20 billion U.S. dollars).

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2008)