The Atasu-Alataw Pass section of the oil pipeline that links western Kazakhstan and western China broke ground on Tuesday.

Kazak Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Vladimir Sergeyevich Shkolnik, Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhou Xiaopei attended the ground-breaking ceremony for the pipeline, which runs 970 km in length and costs about 700 million US dollars.

An important part of the 3,000 km-long oil pipeline between China and Kazakhstan, the Atasu-Alataw Pass pipeline will have an annual transport capacity of 10 million tons with its first-phase project. Construction of the pipeline is expected to be completed in December 2005.

The Sino-Kazak oil pipeline was proposed in 1997 by the two governments. An agreement on building the pipeline was signed by China National Petroleum Corporation and Kazakhstan's state oil and natural gas company during Kazak President Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev's visit to China in May this year.

A joint venture was established in July for the pipeline project. So far, bidding for supply of pipes and construction projects has been completed.