A gas pipeline operated by Sinopec subsidiary Sinopec Sichuan-East Natural Gas Pipeline Company exploded recently in China's central Hubei province causing multiple casualties and damaging homes of nearly a hundred villagers. Gas transmission to Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai was also interrupted.

As a consequence Sinopec Sichuan-East Natural Gas Pipeline Company has agreed to pay compensation of 29.8 million yuan (4.5 million U.S. dollars) to the local government.

With demand for natural gas in China expected to more than triple over the next 25 years, according to a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Sinopec, said on Wednesday it would sell a stake of 50 percent in the Sichuan-East China pipeline to raise funds for expansion of the pipeline and the building of gas storage facilities.

Presently the Sichuan-East China pipeline project is able to carry about 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year, enough for about 6 percent of the country's total gas consumption.