On June 12th, construction commenced in Jingbian County, Yulin, for Shaanxi province's inaugural long-distance carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline.
Stretching approximately 146 kilometers, this pipeline will be the longest of its kind in Western China.
It has a designed annual CO2 transport capacity of 2.8 million tonnes and is scheduled for completion by the end of June 2027.
With an investment of 1.64 billion yuan, the pipeline is being developed by Yanchang Petroleum Group as a core component of its integrated million-tonne CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) project.
The pipeline will connect a newly constructed 900,000-tonne CO2 capture and purification facility at Yulin Energy and Chemical Company, which broke ground on the same day, to over 170 oil wells located in the Tianciwan and Yangmijian oilfields operated by Jingbian Oil Production Plant, as well as the Huaziping oilfield managed by Xingzichuan Oil Production Plant.
Once operational, the pipeline will transport captured and purified CO2 to these three oil regions for underground injection, a process that displaces water for enhanced oil recovery.
This method achieves multiple goals: reducing CO2 emissions, increasing oilfield recovery rates, and conserving water resources.
Addressing a Key Constraint
"The lack of long-distance pipelines is one of the key issues constraining the large-scale application and promotion of CCUS technology," stated Wang Xiangzeng, a Chinese Academy of Engineering academician and Chief Scientist at Yanchang Petroleum Group.
"Pipeline transportation is safer, more stable, and can significantly reduce a company's transport costs."
CCUS technology involves capturing CO2 emissions from industrial production facilities and utilizing or permanently storing them.
It is globally recognized as a crucial technology for addressing climate change and achieving rapid, large-scale CO2 emission reductions.
Currently, CCUS technology demonstration projects are accelerating in China's energy-rich regions.
Shaanxi is one of China's earliest provinces to research and apply CCUS technology and has undertaken several national key scientific research projects.
Advancing Technological and Project Development
Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shaanxi has focused on strengthening innovation in key technologies, cultivating advantages for integrated development to create demonstration models, and breaking through policy bottlenecks to establish pathways for large-scale application, achieving significant breakthroughs.
Yanchang Petroleum Group has established the first fully integrated CCUS demonstration project in a developing country to receive certification from the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.
The company has developed an integrated key technology system covering CO2 capture from coal chemical processes and CO2-enhanced oil recovery and storage in low-permeability, tight reservoirs.
It currently possesses an annual capture capacity of 300,000 tonnes and an annual injection capacity for enhanced oil recovery and storage of 410,000 tonnes.
Cumulative CO2 injection into oilfields has exceeded 500,000 tonnes, boosting the crude oil recovery rate in the demonstration area by approximately 8 percentage points.
In November 2025, Yanchang Petroleum Group's million-tonne fully integrated CCUS project passed review and filing by the National Energy Administration, becoming China's first fully integrated demonstration project to complete the approval process, encompassing CO2 capture, pipeline transport, enhanced oil recovery, storage, and safety monitoring.
Enhancing Supply and Reducing Costs
"Once the long-distance pipeline is completed, it will enable 24-hour uninterrupted gas supply to the oil production plants, further addressing the gas supply gap in the oil regions," said Shi Lihua, Chief Engineer of Xingzichuan Oil Production Plant.
According to calculations by Huo Qingfeng, Deputy Chief Engineer of Jingbian Oil Production Plant, the cost of transporting CO2 via pipeline to the Tianciwan and Yangmijian oilfields will decrease from the current 0.8 yuan per tonne per kilometer using tanker trucks to 0.5 yuan per tonne per kilometer.
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