Harbin, the capital of northernmost Heilongjiang province, will be the first in the batch of China’s cities to use natural gas imported from Russia via the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline, according to local officials.

That’s after its north section officially went into use on Dec 2.

The China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline makes up the eastern portion of Russia's "Power of Siberia" pipeline and runs from eastern Siberia to China.

The pipeline stretches 5,111 kilometers in China and 3,000 km in Russia. Its Chinese section covers six provinces, one autonomous region and two municipalities from northeastern Heilongjiang province to eastern Shanghai.

Heihe in Heilongjiang, a city lying on the border of China and Russia, will be the first stop of the cross-border gas entering China. It is mainly responsible for receiving upstream natural gas from Russia and transporting it to the downstream Wudalianchi gas transmission substation.

Under a 30-year agreement between Russian energy company Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp signed in May 2014, the China-Russia east-route pipeline is expected to pump some 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to China annually.

Officials said the pipeline will be fully connected in 2023.

Plans are for it to be connected with Northeast China’s gas pipe network, the Shaanxi-Beijing gas pipe network and the west-east gas transmission system -- jointly forming a natural gas pipeline grid that runs north-south, spanning east-west and connecting to overseas distribution networks.

Heilongjiang province -- together with Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin -- will be the first to benefit from the gas pipeline this winter, said Jiang Changliang, general manager of China Petroleum Pipeline Corporation.

For the first year, the pipeline is expected to transport 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, Jiang added.

Heilongjiang, as the starting point of the China section of the China-Russia pipeline, is planning to construct its own natural gas network.

According to a framework agreement signed between the Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Government and companies linked with PetroChina, Heilongjiang will build a natural gas pipeline network involving the completed Heilongjiang section of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline, and the to-be-built Daqing and Mingshui sub-lines.

The three lines will mainly serve the Harbin and Lanxi areas of the province.

To make full use of the natural gas network, Heilongjiang will take the lead in promoting and transporting natural gas to cities such as Harbin, Qiqihar, Daqing, Heihe and industrial parks in the province.

Officials said the government is also encouraging Harbin New Zone to replace coal by using natural gas for its central heating system this winter.