China's CNPC gets $3.29 bn UAE pipeline project

SHANGHAI-CHINA: China National Petroleum Corp. has won a bid to build a $3.29 billion pipeline in the United Arab Emirates, its largest overseas construction project so far, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.

The deal, signed Sunday in the Emirates' capital of Abu Dhabi, calls for state-owned CNPC to build a 400 kilometer- (250 mile-) pipeline to Fujairah port from an oilfield in the western part of the country, Xinhua said.

It said the pipeline would have a maximum capacity of 1.8 million barrels of crude oil per day and was due to begin operations in 2010.

Calls to CNPC were not answered late Monday and the company did not make any announcement of the deal on its own.
The project is one of several big oil-related deals announced recently between China and Middle Eastern countries, as Beijing continues its efforts to diversify its energy sources and build business relationships in the region.