Transporting crude oil to China from Gwadar Port, across Balochistan and NWFP, and through the mountainous regions of the Northern Areas, over the Khunjerab Pass to north-western China is a feasible project, say Chinese experts.
Pakistan has suggested building a railway as one option. Another option suggested by Pakistan is to use an upgraded Karakoram Highway to transport the oil in tanker/lorries.
Acknowledging the proposal, Li Jiang, a senior official working with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), said a feasibility study will be undertaken soon to exploit this new communication link for oil transportation.
He hoped that the Gwadar port could provide a shortest route to act as a transit facility giving China access to Central Asian markets and energy sources. The proposal was formally floated by President Pervez Musharraf during his recent talks with Chinese leadership, when he recently visited Beijing and Shanghai.
"We will be interested in studying the prospects of using Pakistan as energy corridor for China", he said, while talking to APP.
The two sides could work out a strategy to evaluate the future prospects of bilateral co-operation in the energy sector both on medium and long-term basis.
The Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea coast in Balochistan through which crude oil imports from Iran and Africa can be transported to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur, an autonomous region by land. The route on which a feasibility study to be conducted is a short-cut compared with the one via the Strait of Malacca.
The port is strategically located as it is quite near the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's oil passes, he noted.
Li Jiang said the Chinese crude oil importers will be looking forward to the results of the feasibility study on transporting crude oil via mountainous regions in Pakistan.
About Pakistan's offer of extending gas pipeline to China, Sun Shihai, a researcher with Chinese Academy of Social Science, said although the proposed pipeline is not a project that can be launched soon, it could work well in the long run.
"It will help maintain peace and stability in the region when the commercial interests of China, Pakistan and a third country are involved," he said.
Pakistan and China have recently emerged as a strong partner in the energy sector. Besides strengthening co-operation in hydropower sector, China also helped its traditional friend set up the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Phase-I; and building on the 300 MW Phase-II started recently.
Pakistan, whose nuclear-power capacity is 437 MW, plans to increase the figure to 8,500 MW by 2030.
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