As of November 21, China's longest crude oil pipeline—the Western Crude Oil Pipeline—has achieved 18 years of safe and stable operation, with cumulative crude oil deliveries exceeding 200 million tonnes.

The Western Crude Oil Pipeline is China's first large-diameter, long-distance pipeline designed for the sequential and sealed transportation of multiple crude oil varieties. Stretching 1,541 kilometers from Shanshan County in Xinjiang to Lanzhou City in Gansu, it serves as a critical artery for the "West-to-East Oil Transmission" strategy.

Li Longdong, chief dispatcher at the Production Monitoring and Emergency Command Center of PipeChina West Pipeline Company, highlighted that since its commissioning in 2007, the pipeline has achieved multiple industry breakthroughs. Its delivery capacity has increased from an initial 1,000 cubic meters per hour to over 2,000 cubic meters per hour. Additionally, the transported oil products have evolved from four single-variety sequential deliveries to optimized blended sequential deliveries, showcasing China's advancements in pipeline technology and management.

Since 2015, the pipeline's starting station has leveraged the elevation differences among its 28 storage tanks and optimized process pipelines. By analyzing historical transfer data and implementing a "pressure-based transfer" process upgrade, the pipeline now saves 4 million kilowatt-hours of energy annually, achieving a balance of safety, economic efficiency, and environmental benefits.

As a key energy artery, the Western Crude Oil Pipeline interconnects with the China-Kazakhstan Crude Oil Pipeline, the Kuitun-Shanshan Pipeline, and the Northern Xinjiang Pipeline Network. It transports crude oil from the Turpan-Hami Oilfield, Xinjiang Oilfield, Tarim Oilfield, and Central Asian resources to Yumen, Lanzhou, and Chengdu, ensuring stable feedstock supply for major petrochemical enterprises and bridging Xinjiang's resource advantages with the demand in central and eastern markets.