Pakistan–China Oil Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Pakistan–China Oil Pipeline is a proposed crude oil pipeline linking Gwadar Port, Pakistan with Kashgar, China. It consists of the Chinese Domestic Segment 中巴输油管道国内段 (红其拉甫-喀什-阿克苏-库尔勒) and another segment linking to Gwadar Port.

As of 2021 it is presumed to be cancelled.

Location

The domestic segment was proposed to run from Hongqi Lafu, Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, China to Turpan, Xinjiang Province, China. This is shown in the map below; note the component in Pakistan is not yet shown in this route.

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Project details

• Operator:
• Owner: Frontier Works Organization; Government of Pakistan; Government of China
• Parent company: Frontier Works Organization; Government of Pakistan; Government of China
• Capacity: 1 million barrels per day
• Length: 3600 kilometers
• Diameter:
• Status: Cancelled
• Start year: 2027
• Cost: US$10 billion
• Financing:
• Associated infrastructure:

Background

The pipeline was proposed in 2018.

The pipeline is meant to transfer shipped oil purchased in Gwadar Port in Southern Pakistan, and from Gwadar, transferring it to Xinjiang, northern China. It is part of the broader China–Pakistan Economic Corridor Plan and was listed in China's long-term oil and gas pipeline development plan issued in 2017.

Crude oil could have been supplied through the shortest possible Dubai–Gwadar–Urumqi route — a distance of about 3,600 km. This would be achieved by laying an oil pipeline through the energy corridor up to western China via Karakoram Highway and Khunjerab Pass.

However, the elevation difference between Gwadar Port and the end point of the proposed pipeline on the border is more than 4 kilometers, making it hard to build and economically unsustainable. The pipeline was not mentioned in country's 14th Five-Year Plan for the energy sector, and no details seem to be available about this or the component of the pipeline in Pakistan. As a result, and given it is more than four years since it first appeared in the 13th Five-Year Plan, it is considered cancelled.