A gas pipeline project in Russia's Far Eastern region of Sakhalin is expected to finish construction and start operation by October to December next year, local media reported on Tuesday.

The first batch of steel tubes and equipment needed for the construction work have reached the designated site, said the Itar-Tass news agency.

The 1,800-km Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline is scheduled to complete construction by the end of 2011.

Russia's Primorye region in the Far East has an annual gas demand of 460,000 cubic meters, said the report.