Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.1
By Nigar Guliyeva - Trend:
Around 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas has been piped from Central Asia to China through a major energy project, Chinese media reported citing China National Petroleum Corporation.
As China's first overland cross-border gas project, the China-Central Asia pipelines went into operation in December 2009, and are made up of three routes with a combined annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. The pipelines pass through countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The Central Asia-China gas pipeline starts in Turkmen-Uzbek border city of Gedaim, runs through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and crosses the Chinese-Kazakh border in Khorgas city.
The pipeline's length is 1,830 kilometers and its total capacity is 55 billion cubic meters a year.
The gas pipeline ensures demand of over 300 million. Line D is currently under construction and once completed is projected to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year.
Estimates show that 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas could replace about 266 million tons of coal, and cut 284 million tons of carbon dioxide and 4.4 million tons of sulfur dioxide.
The following countries are the key gas suppliers for the pipeline - Turkmenistan with a share of 77 percent, Uzbekistan - 12 percent, Myanmar - 10 percent.
The volume of gas consumption in China is expected to increase to 340 billion cubic meters in 2020, while 120 billion cubic meters will be imported.