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Recent news indicates that China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s Mengxi coal-to-natural gas transmission pipeline project has officially received approval from the **Development and Reform Commission. On April 25, 2017, the pre-review for the project site was approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources ； On April 5, 2017, the project’s environmental impact assessment report was approved by the **Ministry of Environmental Protection ； Previously, the overall route plan for the Mengxi pipeline, the suggestions regarding site selection, and the preliminary land use assessment had been approved by **the four provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. As CNOOC’s first inter-provincial long-distance natural gas pipeline, the Mengxi Pipeline brings together three different sources of gas – CNOOC’s LNG from Tianjin, coal-based natural gas from Shanxi, and shale gas – and transports them to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, thereby providing a solid supply guarantee for the region’s natural gas needs. The pipeline passes through the **New Area** in Hebei Province, and features a Rongcheng distribution station as well as several distribution valve rooms. This enables natural gas to be supplied to the **New Area** locally, providing a clean energy source for its development. At the same time, the Mengxi pipeline serves as a \"public corridor\" for transporting coal-to-natural gas from western Inner Mongolia and the Datong area in Shanxi to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Bohai Sea area; it has been included in the **13th Five-Year Plan for Energy Development** as well as the 13th Five-Year Plans of the four provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. The Mengxi pipeline is approximately 1,279 kilometers long, running through the provinces and autonomous regions of Meng, Jin, Ji, and Tianjin. It features 17 process stations and 50 valve rooms in total. The total investment in the project amounts to 21.06 billion yuan, with the coal-to-natural gas (SNG) projects located upstream of the pipelines mainly in western Inner Mongolia and the Datong area of Shanxi. The five major coal-to-gas projects include CNOOC’s Ordos coal-to-gas project, CNOOC’s Shanxi Datong coal-to-gas project, Xinmeng Energy’s Ordos coal-to-gas project, Hebei Construction’s Ordos coal-to-gas project, and Beikong Energy’s coal-to-gas project. Recently, in an effort to accelerate the progress of CNOOC’s coal-to-natural gas project in Datong and to ensure its early commencement, Zhang Jifu, Secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Datong Municipal Party Committee, along with Ma Yanping, Deputy Secretary of the Datong Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Datong, led representatives from relevant districts, counties and departments on a special trip to Beijing to meet with China National Offshore Oil Corporation. There, they held discussions with Li Hui, Vice President of CNOOC, regarding ways to speed up the progress of the project. The CNOOC Datong coal-to-natural gas project involves an investment of 21.6 billion yuan, a construction period of 39 months, and an annual production capacity of 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas. To date, the preliminary work for the project has been highly effective, with breakthrough progress already achieved, and it is being advanced in an orderly manner. Shanxi Province and Datong City attach great importance to the CNOOC project, considering it a key initiative. The first phase of this project serves primarily the Zouyun Economic and Technological Development Zone; working bodies have been established there, and teams have been assigned to carry out the work. The construction of various infrastructure facilities in the development zone is progressing swiftly. Two supporting projects related to this project – the Jingtong Thermal Power Plant and the water supply system that transports water from the Yellow River to northern Shanxi – are also being implemented at full speed.