China's top economic planner has given Sinopec the nod to build a pipeline from gas-rich Sichuan to South China, a source from Asia's top refiner said yesterday.

"As reserves from Sichuan's Puguang Gasfield prove to be larger than expected, we have been given the greenlight to pipe gas from Sichuan to ... the Pearl River Delta," the Sinopec insider, who didn't want to be named, told China Daily, citing documents approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.

"By the end of 2009, Sinopec may supply natural gas to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao," the source added.