China has imported 5.82 billion cubic meters (cu m) of natural gas through the China-Central Asia gas pipeline since it started operating in December 2009. The pipeline, one of the country’s four strategic oil and gas access points, has been operating securely and steadily since it was put into use, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said. The 1,833-km line, which runs through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China’s Xinjiang region, is the country’s first large pipeline project to transport natural gas from abroad. The pipeline has yet to operate at full capacity. The CNPC Research Institute of Economics & Technology said that China imported 4.4 billion cu m of natural gas through the pipeline in 2010. The monthly import volume will more than double in the first two months of 2011 from the average monthly level in 2010. The pipeline is designed to transport 30 billion to 40 billion cu m by 2015. The nation recorded a 15.82% annual growth of natural gas consumption from 2001 to 2009, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy published in June. China is also exploring alternative technologies. PetroChina produced 300 million cu m of coal-bed methane in 2010 and expected the output to hit 4 billion cu m by 2012. MIE Holdings Corporation, a privately owned oil and gas producer based in Jilin province, announced that it signed an agreement with Kazakhstan-based BMB Munai to purchase the latter’s oil and gas production and exploration project in Mangistau Oblast in western Kazakhstan for USD170 million, the China Daily reports.