The shield machine used in the China-Russian East Route Natural Gas Pipeline Engineering Project in Haimen, Jiangsu province bored a distance of 1,003.5 meters in November, setting a world record for the fastest excavation by a slurry shield machine in a single month.

The 5,111-kilometer pipeline is the longest natural gas pipeline in China.

The shield tunneling machine has been deployed to excavate a 7.5-km tunnel under the Yangtze River. The project has proven to be a complex one as the boring site under the waters faces high water pressures of up to 0.73 MPa. The composition of the earth as well as the presence of biogas has also made boring more difficult than usual.

Despite the slew of challenges, the slurry shield machine managed to bore through more than twice the length of its monthly target of 450 m.

The construction project is divided into the north, middle and south sections. The north and middle sections have started gas transportation. The south section starts from Yongqing county, Langfang, Hebei province, and crosses Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, before ending in Baihe town, Shanghai.

After the completion of the project, 18.9 billion cubic meters of Russian gas will be delivered to the Yangtze River Delta.