In his address to the ongoing Asian Regional Meeting of World Petroleum Congresses Tuesday, Zeng Peiyan, minister of the State Development Planning Commission, emphasized the growth of the petroleum industry would advance the country's campaign to open up China's vast western area, where oil and petroleum gas are rich.

The pipeline project to send natural gas from west to east is one of China's many key tasks in the drive to explore the west. The pipeline will extend more than 4,000 km and run through nine provinces and municipalities, with an annual transporting capacity of 12 billion cubic meters.

Regions in west China will be permitted to try BOT (build, operate, transfer) and TOT (transfer, operate, transfer) in attracting overseas investment, Zeng said.

As for overseas investors who are willing to spend on western China's infrastructure, the central government will also relax restrictions on proportions of the investment by the overseas investors in joint ventures, and expand the proportion of Chinese currency loans offered by domestic banks to overseas investors for investment in fixed assets.

Overseas-financed projects in west China will also be allowed to raise funds in currencies including Chinese yuan, said the Chinese minister.

The central Chinese government also encourages overseas investors in China to make reinvestments, said Zeng, adding that overseas investors investing in oil and petroleum gas projects will enjoy a range of preferential policies ranging from a 15 percent cut in income taxes to exemption of exploration rights fees for minerals.

The Asian Regional Meeting of World Petroleum Congresses, which opened Monday in Shanghai, will close Thursday.

(People's Daily 09/19/2001)