A pipeline project linking Kazakhstan and China is to be completed in October 2009, Kazakhstan's state-run oil group said on Tuesday.
The main part of the pipeline began deliveries of oil from Kazakhstan to China in May last year but a final third section measuring 761 kilometres (473 miles) is to be built from western Kazakhstan to the centre of the country.
When this part is completed, at a cost of one billion dollars (680 million), the pipeline will measure 3,000 kilometres.
It has been jointly built by Kazakhstan's Kazmunaigaz state oil group and China's public energy group CNPC.
The US Department of Energy has estimated the completed pipeline will supply about five percent of Chinese oil demand.
