Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 30
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Kyrgyzstan is negotiating the possibility of receiving natural gas from a future branch of the Turkmenistan-China pipeline for providing the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan with gas, Zhyrgalbek Sagynbayev, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use of Kyrgyzstan said, Trend reports referring to Kyrgyz media.
"However, it is necessary to conduct additional negotiations with all the countries participating in the project in order to resolve this issue," he said.
The length of the section of the gas pipeline passing through the territory of the country (Alay and Chong-Alay districts of Osh Region in southern Kyrgyzstan) will be 215 kilometers.
The total cost of the project is $1.2 billion. Kyrgyzstan expects to receive about $2.15 billion in taxes for 30 years of its operation, as reflected in the agreement signed September 11, 2013 with the Chinese government on cooperation in the construction and operation of the Kyrgyzstan-China gas pipeline.
It was reported earlier that the construction of the 4th branch "D" of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline via Kyrgyzstan is scheduled to commence by late 2019.
The State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use of Kyrgyzstan stated that, with an estimated cost of $1.2 billion over this segment of the pipeline, the project will have a 3-year implementation period.
Overall, the new branch "D" is intended for the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China route.
At present, three branches of the pipeline on the route Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China (branches "A", "B", "C") have been built and functioning. They are to supply 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year altogether.
The agreement on the construction of the fourth branch "D" of the "Turkmenistan-China" gas pipeline was signed during the talks between the Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping in September 2013. The additional branch's rate of flow is expected to be 25 billion cubic meters of gas, which will allow Turkmenistan to bring the volume of its natural gas exports to China to 65 billion cubic meters annually.
It was earlier reported that, as of December 2018, more than 250 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas had been exported to China since December 2009.
The deposits of Bagtyyarlyk and Galkynysh in Turkmenistan are used as sources for raw materials.