Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, will spend at least 188.5 billion yuan ($27 billion) to build six energy projects including a natural gas link and nuclear power plants to spur economic expansion.

The State Council, or Cabinet, today approved the Ningxia- Shenzhen-Hong Kong section of its second West-East gas pipeline that will cost 93 billion yuan and two nuclear plants worth 95.5 billion yuan, the Chinese government said on its Web site. Details of the other projects weren't given.

China will spend 4 trillion yuan, or the equivalent of almost a fifth of its 2007 gross domestic product, to stimulate growth in the fourth-largest economy as the world heads toward a recession, the State Council said on Nov. 9. The announcement came less than a week before President Hu Jintao goes to Washington for talks with global leaders on ways to revive growth.

The nation will begin constructing 10 nuclear power reactors with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts each in the eastern provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a separate statement on its Web site today. PetroChina Co. will start building a 10 million-metric- ton-a-year refinery in Chengdu in Sichuan province, it said.

``The increased investments in infrastructure facilities are in line with the proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy implemented to counter the global financial crisis,'' the commission, China's top economic planning body, said in the statement.

By the end of this year, the country will start building the eastern section of its second West-East gas pipeline that spans 11 provinces and a 12 million-ton-a-year coal mine in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, the commission said. Construction of a hydropower station in Jiangsu and an electricity transmission line in southern China will commence at the same time, it added.

The government has completed a plan to build the second phase of the country's oil stockpiling projects with a capacity of 26.8 million cubic meters, the commission said, without saying when construction will begin. It also plans to spend 4 billion yuan on upgrading urban and rural electricity networks.

To contact the reporters on this story: Wang Ying in Beijing at ywang30@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: November 12, 2008 05:47 EST