By intern reporter Cheng Hua

From Caijing Online

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the largest oil and gas producer in the country, has won a US$ 3.29 billion bid to build a pipeline for crude oil in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project will be CNPC’s largest overseas engineering and construction project.

The state-owned CNPC signed the contract with the UAE’s International Petroleum Investment Co. on November 30, according a report from Xinhua News.

The 400-kilometer Abu Dhabi crude pipeline will link a major oil field in the west of the UAE to the Fujairah port in the east. Designers have planned for a capacity is 1.5 million barrels per day, with a maximum capacity of 1.8 million barrels per day.

The project is expected to start operation by the end of 2010.

To fuel China’s economic growth, CNPC is increasingly venturing out into overseas markets. By the end of 2007, the company had invested in oil and gas projects in 26 countries, and was offering engineering services in 44 countries.

In 2007, CNPC’s overseas crude oil production reached 60 million tons, while gas production topped 5.36 billion cubic meters. The total length of the company’s overseas pipeline was 5,170 kilometers.