Uzbekistan, Tashkent, June 10, Trend, D.Azizov /
Uzbekneftegaz national holding company and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a framework agreement on supply of natural gas. The document was signed within Chinese President Hu Jintao's official visit to Tashkent.
According to the document, Uzbekistan will supply about 10 billion cubic meters of natural annually.
The two sides reached an agreement to connect Uzbekistan's natural gas transmission system with the China-Uzbekistan natural gas pipeline, first line of which was launched in December 2009.
The China-Uzbekistan gas pipeline is part of the larger 1,800-kilometer China-Central Asia gas pipeline that opened in December 2009, linking gas fields in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to northwest China's Xinjiang. At present, fuel via this pipeline is supplied from Turkmenistan, with which China has agreement to supply natural gas for 30 years.
Uzbekistan ranks the second among the CIS countries and among the ten largest gas-producing countries for natural gas production. Every year the country produces about 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas, part of which is exported.
Uzbekneftegaz is a monopoly operator of oil and gas industry of Uzbekistan provides production of more than 90 percent of hydrocarbons in the country. Uzbekneftegaz was established in 1998 and unites six joint stock companies.