BEIJING, April 10 -- China plans to build an over-400-km hydrogen pipeline to more effectively transfer clean fuel from the resources-rich west to energy-consuming regions in the east.

The project designed to channel hydrogen from Ulanqab, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to Beijing, will be the country's first trans-regional, long-distance hydrogen pipeline, said Ma Yongsheng, chairman of Sinopec, China's largest oil refiner and operator of the pipeline.

The pipeline in the first phase will be able to handle about 100,000 tonnes of hydrogen each year and has the potential to increase the capacity by 500,000 tonnes in the long run.

After being put into operation, the supply from Inner Mongolia will replace the current hydrogen production from fossil fuels in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, play a pioneering role in trans-regional hydrogen transmission, and help promote the country's energy upgrades, Ma said.

The project has been included in the country's oil and gas network construction plan released by the National Energy Administration in March.