China announced that its US$5.2 billion east-west gas pipeline will be finished ahead of schedule and contracts were signed for a total of 6.7 billion cubic meters of gas yearly. The pipeline is expected to transfer 12 billion cubic meters of gas yearly from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Shanghai by 2009. The eastern section, which runs 1,485 kilometers from Shaanxi province to Shanghai, will supply 4.8 billion cubic meters of gas yearly from Shaanxi sources until the western 2,525 kilometer leg comes online as early as the end of 2004.