The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced Sunday it has signed an agreement with the Kazakh gas company KazMunayGas to jointly build the second phase of a gas pipeline in a bid to tap gas reserves in southern Kazakhstan.

The agreement concerns design, financing, construction, and operation of the second-phase of the pipeline, a statement on CNPC's website said Sunday.

The statement gave no details on the cost of the project or a construction timetable.

The 2nd-phase Kazakhstan-China Gas Pipeline would be built to meet the gas demand in southern Kazakhstan, the statement said, adding the two countries would also discuss the possibility of exporting Caspian gas to China through the pipeline.

In August 2007, China and Kazakhstan signed an inter-government agreement on the construction of the Kazakhstan-China Gas Pipeline. Line A of the 1,300-km phase-1 project opened in December 2009.

The phase-2 project's pipeline will have a total length of 1,400 km, the statement said.

Total annual capacity of the 2nd-phase pipeline is expected to reach 10 billion cubic meters.      (Extracted By Sean)