BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's second west-to-east gas pipeline, the world's longest line, became fully operational when the last section of the line opened on Sunday, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced.

The 8,704-kilometer pipeline, including one trunk line and 8 regional lines, will carry natural gas from central Asia to as far afield as Shanghai in east China and Guangzhou and Hong Kong in south China.

The 142.2 billion-yuan (22.57 billion U.S. dollars) pipeline traverses 15 provincial regions and will benefit about 500 million people, according to the CNPC.

The pipeline's annual natural gas transportation capacity is 30 billion cubic meters. It runs from Huoerguosi, located on the China-Kazakhstan border in northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to Hong Kong.?