Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kyrgyzstan and China signed an agreement on the construction of a gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to China via Kyrgyzstan.

"An agreement on the construction of a gas pipeline worth $2 billion was signed with China," local Kyrgyz media reported President Almazbek Atambayev as saying on December 18.

China, a major energy consumer, and Turkmenistan, a major energy producer, enjoy a natural advantage and huge potential in energy cooperation.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping who was in Ashgabat on an official visit came to an agreement on the fourth direction of the transnational Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline along the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China route in September 2013.

The Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline was commissioned in December 2009 and, upon completion, will increase the amount of Turkmen gas delivered to China up to 40 billion cubic meters per year.

Ashgabat and Beijing have recently agreed on the supplies of an additional 25 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas per year, which would bring the total volume up to 65 billion cubic meters.

Turkmenistan is one of the key players in the energy market in the resource-rich Caspian region. The Central Asian state has the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran, and Qatar and produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

Turkmenistan intends to increase the production volume and export of natural gas and diversify the routes of supply to major world markets as part of the energy strategy.

Under the program for oil and gas development, the country's annual natural gas production is planned to increase to 250 billion cubic meters by 2030, mostly for export purposes.

The country exports raw materials to Russia, China, and Iran each year.

The BP report on World Energy 2013 shows that Turkmenistan produced 64.4 billion cubic meters of gas last year, compared to 59.5 billion cubic meters of gas in 2011.