Oil Pipeline Transportation

　　Following the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, automobiles were used to transport oil from the Lenghu Oilfield in Qinghai, and the Liuyuan and Yumen Oilfields in Gansu Province to Tibet. Prior to 1963, more than 10,000 tons of oil were shipped each year into Tibet to fuel industrial enterprises and the transport sector. Unused oil was stored oil drums. Oil thus transported into Tibet using this method was particularly expensive, due to the fact that the oil trucks would consume one-third of oil they transported along the way. With the development of Tibet's economy, demand for oil and oil products has grown rapidly. Auto transportation can no longer meet local demand.
　　To implement a long-term solution to this problem, the late Premier Zhou Enlai instructed on May 30, 1972, the PLA troops to join hands with technical personnel, workers and militia to lay an oil pipeline from Golmud to Lhasa. In November 1976, the pipeline started to supply finished oil to Lhasa. It went into formal service in October 1977. The Golmud-Lhasa Oil Pipeline constitutes the longest of its kind in China and also the oil pipeline with the highest elevation in the world. The 1,080-km oil pipeline is served with 11 pump stations and one diversion station. A finished oil storehouse was built in Lhasa. The finished oil storehouse underwent expansion in 1984, and the expanded facility went into service in 1985, with the holding capacity doubling. In the last 10 years or more, some 2 million tons of finished oil has been piped to Tibet.