BEIJING - A Chinese official said Tuesday that construction will be completed on a gas pipeline from Zhuhai, Guangdong province, to Macao Special Administrative Region before June.

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the country's top offshore oil and gas producer, started construction on the pipeline on Jan 8, Yang Lei, an official with the National Energy Administration, said at a press conference.

The 7.7-kilometer pipeline is designed with an annual transport capacity of 520 million cubic meters of natural gas, according to material posted on the CNOOC website.

The new line will replace an existing one. Operations on the existing line have been suspended since June 1, 2011, in line with the urbanization plans for Zhuhai.

According to Yang, the Chinese mainland also plans to supply 2.23 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Hong Kong this year, slightly below last year's 2.59 billion cubic meters.