Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 16
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
Ashgabat hosted the 13th meeting of the Coordination Committee on operation of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China pipeline, said the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Turkmenistan.
Reports on the current technical condition of the pipeline route were presented at the meeting, according to the information. The speakers were representatives of the Beijing Coordination Center, Turkmengaz State Concern, as well as the Turkmen branch of CNPC International.
In addition, the schedule for the transportation of natural gas and the work schedule for the fourth quarter 2015, as well as the schedule of maintenance of the gas pipeline for 2016 presented by a working group of the Coordinating Committee, was discussed.
Employees of the Uztransgaz, Asia Trans Gas and Asian Gas Pipeline companies also took part in the work of the Coordination Committee. The agenda included such issues as the state of affairs in the regional sections of the pipeline's route, the work schedule for their maintenance and repair as well as the progress of construction of additional infrastructure.
China National Petroleum Corporation has started purchasing gas from this region since 2009 after the commissioning of first two branches (A and B) from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The third branch (C) running on this route has been commissioned recently.
Currently, work is underway to construct the additional fourth branch (D) on the new route through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Beijing has a long-term agreement with Turkmenistan to increase deliveries to 65 billion cubic meters of gas per year by 2020.