(Yicai) Sept. 3 -- China Petroleum Engineering Corporation, the construction engineering arm of Chinese oil and gas giant China National Petroleum Corporation, won a USD480 million contract for part of an oil pipeline construction project in the United Arab Emirates, its fourth major contract in the country over the past year.

CPEC’s unit China Petroleum Engineering Construction Corporation will build the second section from Habshan to Sweihan and the third section from Sweihan to Fujairah of the West-East onshore pipeline project for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Onshore in 27 months, the Beijing-based parent firm announced yesterday.

With a diameter of 48 inches and a length of about 500 kilometers, the West-East onshore pipeline runs from the oil storage terminal at the Jebel Dhanna Port in the UAE to the Main Oil Terminal in Fujairah. The initial designated capacity is around 1.5 million barrels per day, according to CPEC.  

The successful implementation of this project will help CPEC consolidate and expand its onshore oil and gas storage and transportation engineering business in the UAE and improve its earnings in the next two years, the company noted.

CPEC’s shares [SHA: 600339] were trading down 2.5 percent at CNY3.15 (44 US cents) as of 2.15 p.m. in Shanghai today, after gaining as much as 1.9 percent at the open.

At the end of last year, a media outlet under CNPC reported that CPECC had participated in the design of the West-East pipeline, which would become a new critical onshore crude oil transportation artery for the UAE once completed.

Since September last year, CPEC has won four projects from ADNOC Onshore.

The first was a USD325 million deal to expand the capacity of the Babu Oilfield’s crude oil central processing facility. The second was a USD297 million contract to build the sixth processing station of the Bu Hasa Oilfield’s CPF. The third was a USD397 million deal to renovate and upgrade the off-site facilities of the Asab Oilfield and its surrounding four satellite oilfields.

Editor: Futura Costaglione