An inspector tests oil samples at an oil station in Mohe, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, Jan 1, 2011. Russia's crude oil started flowing into China through a pipeline linking Russia's far east to China's northeast as the two countries began testing the pipeline on Monday evening. [Photo/Xinhua]

MOHE, Heilongjiang - Some 42,000 tons of crude oil had as of 5:48 am Sunday flowed through an oil pipeline linking Russia's far east and northeast China, 24 hours after the pipeline began operating, a spokesman for the Chinese operator of the pipeline said.

The pipeline, which originates in the Russian town of Skovorodino in the far-eastern Amur region, enters China at Mohe and terminates at Northeast China's Daqing city.

A total of 1.32 million tons of oil is scheduled to be transported to China through the pipeline in January, said a spokesman for Pipeline Branch of Petro China Co., Ltd. (PBPC), the operator of the Chinese section of the pipeline.

The 1,000-km-long pipeline will transport 15 million tons of crude oil from Russia to China per year from 2011 until 2030, according to an agreement signed between the two countries. Some 72 kilometers of the pipeline is in Russia while 927 km of it is in China.

Workers make an inspection tour at an oil station in Mohe, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, Jan 1, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]