A branch natural gas pipeline in Changshun County, Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, China, has recently been connected to the national trunk natural gas pipeline network and begun operation, local media reported on September 21, 2026. This completes the “county-to-county connection” (县县通) program across all counties under Qiannan Prefecture, with more than 28,000 households newly gaining access to natural gas supply, according to the report.
The section that began operation is a branch natural gas pipeline running through Changshun County in Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou, reportedly the last route needed to connect all county-level areas under Qiannan’s jurisdiction to the national trunk gas pipeline. With this connection, the “county-to-county connection” goal has reportedly been completed across all county-level administrative areas under Qiannan Prefecture. The specific contractor and total investment amount have not been disclosed in the report.
This branch pipeline connection is expected to newly supply natural gas to more than 28,000 households in Qiannan Prefecture. China has built more than 2,500 kilometers of new trunk oil and gas pipelines cumulatively this year, bringing the nationwide total length of trunk oil and gas pipelines to 112,900 kilometers, according to the report. The specific pipe diameter or transport capacity of this section was not separately disclosed.
China has continued to pursue its “county-to-county connection” policy to extend the natural gas supply network into underdeveloped areas, and this Guizhou case is cited as an example of eliminating the last supply blind spot in a mountainous region of the southwest.
This case shows that China’s pipeline expansion is moving beyond major cities and coastal industrial parks toward completing the “county-to-county connection” goal in inland mountainous regions. This aligns with industry observations that pipeline construction demand in China is gradually shifting from large trunk-line projects toward smaller-scale branch network completion works. For pipe material and construction equipment suppliers, this suggests steady demand from a larger number of smaller branch projects, even though unit values are lower than large-scale projects. It also reflects a pattern in which the Chinese government publicizes annual new trunk network construction achievements (more than 2,500 km added this year) to highlight progress in energy infrastructure expansion.
It remains to be seen whether similar “county-to-county connection” completion works will follow in other Chinese provinces. Whether Guizhou Province, including Qiannan Prefecture, will announce further branch network expansion plans beyond this completed section is also of interest. However, the exact completion and start-up date of this section and the specific contractor were not clearly identified in the original report, so further official announcements would be needed to fill in these details.