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China exploring possibility of connecting to TAPI gas pipeline project

Oil&Gas Materials 13 August 2018 15:46 (UTC +04:00)

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Aug. 13

By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:

China is studying the possibility of building a branch of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline from the territory of Pakistan, the "Turkmengaz" State Concern said in a message referring to the statement of the Managing Director of the Pakistani state-owned "Inter-State Gas Systems (Private) Limited" (ISGS) company Mobin Saulat.

The accelerated transition of China from coal burning to gas firing increases the needs of this country in natural gas, the message says. Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of gas reserves.

It was reported in May 2018, that since the end of 2009, China has purchased 204 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas and became its largest importer. The route of supplies through the three branches of the gas pipeline passes through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. It is planned to build the fourth branch of the gas pipeline which would pass through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Finally, it is planned to increase the local volume of supplies to 65 billion per year, which is one and a half as much as the current figures. As regards the construction of TAPI, its implementation began in December 2015 and is carried out in two phases.

At the first stage, the gas pipeline will be built without compressors, which will reduce the volume of transported gas and at the same time reduce the financial costs of the project. At the second stage, eleven compressors will be installed along the pipeline, which will just bring it to the designed capacity. After the full implementation of the project and commissioning of all the facilities, the gas pipeline will export up to 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year for 30 years.

The 1840-kilometer TAPI project is designed to deliver natural gas from Turkmenistan to India, as well as to build several gas takeoff stations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The "Turkmengaz" State Concern is actively working on the development of a part of the "Galkynysh" field - the raw material base for the pipeline. It is expected that the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank will undertake a significant part of the financing of the TAPI project.

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