(Yicai Global) Dec. 31 -- China Petroleum Engineering stock jumped on the news its two wholly-owned subsidiaries have secured an USD881 million West African oil pipeline contract.

The contract term is tentatively set at 42 months. The project consists of laying 508 millimeter diameter oil pipelines and building ancillary transport facilities along these, the Beijing-based construction contractor announced yesterday.

The firm’s shares [SHA:600339] were up 3.09 percent to CNY3.09 (47 US cents) in midafternoon.

China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering will lay 1,275 kilometers of the pipeline in Niger, and China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp will emplace its 675km stretch in Benin, the announcement said.

The West African Oil Pipeline, also known as Niger-Benin crude oil pipeline, runs from Southeast Niger’s Agadem oilfield to the port of Cotonou on the southeastern coast of neighboring Benin and has total investment of nearly USD4 billion. A local unit of China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development funded and constructed the pipeline, public data show.

CNODC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China’s petroleum giant China National Petroleum Corp, and the controlling shareholder of China Petroleum Engineering is also CNPC.

The Agadem Oilfield is Niger’s largest petroleum exploration area and has proven oil reserves of more than 400 million tons. CNPC began to participate in the oilfield’s development in 2008, including oil and gas exploration and building crude oil transport pipelines and oil refining projects.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi