Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 20
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
As many as 16.356 million tons of natural gas were supplied along the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline in the first half of 2018, which is 18.75 percent more than in the same period last year, according to the customs administration of Khorgos city (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China).
This gas pipeline, with a total length of 1,833 kilometers, provides natural gas to more than 400 million people, and the share of gas from Central Asia in China’s total consumption is at least 15 percent.
In May 2018, it was reported that since late 2009, China had acquired 204 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas and became its largest importer.
Turkmenistan holds fourth place in the world for gas reserves.
The gas pipeline route passes through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. It is planned to build the fourth line of the gas pipeline through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Once this line is commissioned, the gas export volumes will grow.
It is planned to bring gas export volumes to 65 billion per year, which exceeds the current figures by over 1.5 times.