China plans to complete a highway across the world's biggest sandy desert, near the ancient Silk Road, six months before schedule to tap oil fields in the western part of the country and reduce reliance on imports, an official said.

The highway, which crosses the Takla Makan desert near China's nuclear bomb test site in the Xinjiang region, will open in June after 22 months of construction, said the official, Li Lixin, who heads the highway project office.

The new route will reduce by half the journey for rigs and oil workers from the city of Aksu to the Tarim Basin, home to a third of China's oil reserves.

The highway, which will be the second Chinese road to cross the Takla Makan, will increase access to the basin, which is the size of France, for Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Total and other potential bidders for exploration rights in the area.

China's dependence on oil imports will almost double by 2030, the International Energy Agency forecast.The Tarim Basin, which covers 560,000 square kilometers, or 215,000 square miles, has estimated reserves totaling eight billion tons of oil, Liu said.

The highway will be 424 kilometers, or 260 miles, long and cost 797 million yuan, or $101 million. It will connect Aksu, on the northern rim of the Tarim Basin next to Kyrgyzstan, with Hotan in the south.

"It will facilitate the transportation of goods, including energy products," Li, of the highway project office, said. "It will reduce the distance between Aksu and Hotan from 1,000 kilometers to between 400 and 500 kilometers."

Source:佚名