Changchun -- Hong Kong's leading gas supplier, Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), announced on Monday it would establish a joint venture with the Jilin provincial state-owned asset management company as a public supplier in the northeastern province.

The new joint venture will also work with the Jilin provincial branches of China National Petroleum Corporation and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation to develop the rich gas resources in northeast China, said Alfred Chan, managing director of Towngas.

The new company is expected to become a platform for gas imports from Russia, he said.

The new company, with a registered investment of 160 million yuan (US$20 million), is Towngas' second joint venture in the gas-rich Jilin province and the two sides plan to inject a total of 2 billion yuan (US$250 million) into the company, said Chan. He did not reveal how many shares each side held.

With Towngas' advantage in technology and management, the new company will help local gas companies to improve their services and perfect their operations, said Zhang Zhizhong, president of Jilin provincial state-owned asset management company.

Founded in 1862, Towngas was the first public utility in Hong Kong. As the leader of gas production and distribution in the region, the company supplies gas to over 1.5 million Hong Kong customers with more than 3,000 km of pipeline networks.

The company has invested more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion) in setting up 41 joint ventures on the Chinese mainland since it entered the mainland market in 1994 and it aims to achieve a total revenue of 10.4 billion yuan from its mainland business by the end of 2008.