Turkmenistan Supplied 125BCM of Gas to China
Turkmenistan delivered 125 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China from 2009 to August 2015.
The Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources of Turkmenistan issued a statement on September 28th saying that, leading among other gas suppliers, Turkmenistan has become a strategic partner for China.
Chinese CNPC also develops Turkmenistan's Bagtyyarlyk gas field on the bank of the Amu Darya.
CNPC announced last week that she put the Tan-401D gas well into production located in Block B of the Bagtyiarlyk based on a production sharing agreement.
The well produces natural gas at a daily rate of 300,000 cubic meters. Currently, the gas produced is being transmitted to the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, after being treated at the No. 2 Gas Processing Plant of the Amu Darya project, CNPC said.
This indicates the successful commissioning of the Bota, Tangiguyi and Uzyngyi gas fields, the Chinese firm added.
Construction of the three gas fields commenced in September 2014, with a designed annual capacity of 1 billion cubic meters.
Currently, the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline system consists of three branches with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters a year to transfer Turkmen as well as gas from other Central Asian states.
According to China’s Custom report released on January 26th, China received 25.9 bcm of Turkmen gas in 2014, less than the 30 bcm/a agreed between state-owned companies Turkmengaz and China National Petroleum Corp. The two companies also agreed to boost China's imports of Turkmen gas to 40 Bcm/a in 2015.
Ashgabat recently hosted the 13th meeting of the Coordination Committee on operation of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China pipeline. Meeting participants discussed current issues related to the transportation of natural gas and operation of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline in 2015-2016.
The Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline starts at the Turkmen-Uzbek border city Gedaim and runs through central Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan before reaching Horgos in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region.
The Pipeline has three lines in parallel, each running for 1,830 kilometers. Construction of Line A/B commenced in July 2008. With a pipe diameter of 1,067mm, Line A became operational in December 2009, and Line B became operational in October, 2010. A delivery capacity of 30 billion cubic meters per annum was reached by the end of 2011.
Construction of Line C started in September 2012. With a designed capacity of 25 billion cubic meters per annum, Line C’s pipe diameter is 1,219mm, 152mm larger than Line A/B. The overall welding work of the pipeline was completed at the end of 2013.
On May 31, 2014, at the initial station of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline in Uzbekistan, the gas valve was turned on to boost natural gas from Turkmenistan to Line C, indicating the new transnational pipeline jointly built by CNPC and its Central Asian counterparts has become operational.
Upon completion of all supporting facilities of Line C by the end of 2015, the overall delivery capacity of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline will hit 55 billion cubic meters per annum.
In September 2013, China signed inter-governmental agreements with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan respectively on Line D project as well to increase gas delivery capacity from Central Asia to 85 bcm/a.
Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Temir Sariyev announced last week that construction of Kyrgyzstan's section of Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline will start in 2016 and will complete in three years.
Kyrgyzstan is expected to earn $80 million annually from the transit of Turkmen gas to China.
The construction of a new gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China with the capacity of 30 bcm/a of gas will start next year.