Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Energy-rich Turkmenistan has become China's important partner in gas cooperation.

The remark was made by Deputy General Director of the China's PetroChina Company, Lu Gongxun in an interview with local Chinese media.

Gongxun said the annual volume of natural gas being supplied to China by Turkmenistan will rise from 40 billion cubic meters (bcm) to 65 bcm in 2021 under an agreement signed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Turkmenistan in 2013.

He added with the deepening of strategic partnership between the two countries, their gas cooperation will be further strengthened and become an inexhaustible impetus for improving inter-state relations.

"Turkmenistan's rich gas resources facilitate the implementation of China's goal of diversifying energy imports. The natural gas imports from the Central Asia play an indispensable role in ensuring the state energy security of China," the Chinese businessman said.

Gongxun believes the cooperation between the two countries in the gas industry has a strategic, long-term and far-sighted character, and fully reflects the high level of political trust between the two countries and its complementary, win-win nature.

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

China is one of the key buyers of Turkmen gas, and intends to increase its annual purchases up to 65 billion cubic meters of gas.

Turkmenistan is one of the key players in the energy market of 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 per year.

As part of its energy strategy, Turkmenistan plans to increase the production volume and export of natural gas, and diversify the routes of supply to major world markets.

Under the Program for Oil and Gas Development, the country's annual natural gas production is planned to reach 250 billion cubic meters by 2030, mostly for export purposes.

The trade turnover between the two countries grew by 20 times in 2007-2013 to about $10 billion last year.

Given the ever-increasing potential of the two countries, as well as the areas of mutual interest, Turkmenistan and China have all the conditions to increase the volume of bilateral trade to $20 billion over the next five years.