BEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) - China's environmental watchdog said a section of PetroChina's fuel pipeline passing through Hebei has encroached on a nature reserve in the northern part of the province.

PetroChina changed the original route of the pipeline that had been approved by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and ran it through the nature reserve in the Liujiang Basin in Hebei, the Ministry said in statement on Friday.

The section across the nature reserve is part of PetroChina's major Jinzhou to Zhengzhou pipeline, which transports fuel products from its major refineries in China's northeastern provinces to consumer markets in central China.

PetroChina did not immediately respond to an e-mail requesting comment.

China has increased scrutiny of industrial development in the country's nature reserves, forcing many factories and power plants to shut down.

China aims to set aside 25 percent of its territory as off limits to industrial development by 2020.

Hebei has promised to make 20.7 percent of its total land area off-limits to development through a new "ecological red line" scheme.

(Reporting by Meng Meng and David Stanway; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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