BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 3
By Amina Nazarli - Trend:
Ashgabat is working to increase supplies of Turkmen natural gas to China, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said, Trend reports citing Turkmenistan Today State news agency.
He made the statement in an interview with Chinese state media on February 2.
“Today we are working to increase the volume of supplies of Turkmen natural gas, taking into account the growing needs of the economy of China and the resource base potential of Turkmenistan,” said Berdimuhamedov.
He went on to say that Turkmenistan is ready to discuss in detail the possibility of building the 4th route of the pipeline from Turkmenistan to China.
The president called the fuel and energy sector one of the priority areas of Turkmen-Chinese cooperation, highlighting the construction and commissioning of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline in 2009 as a vivid example of a fruitful bilateral partnership.
There are three operating gas pipelines from Turkmenistan to China running along the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China route. Last year, Turkmenistan exported about 34 billion cubic meters of gas to China.
The fourth segment is planned to run from Turkmenistan's Galkynysh gas field to the Chinese border via Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Its commissioning is expected to allow Turkmenistan to increase annual gas supplies to China by up to 65 billion cubic meters.