Construction of Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline started

energy

Construction of Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline started

By SRI ⋅ July 9, 2008 ⋅

(SRI) - Construction of the 1,300-kilometer Kazakhstan-China natural gas pipeline started on Wednesday near Almaty in a ceremony attended by Sauat Mynbayev, Kazakh Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, according to Interfax.

The pipeline will be constructed in five stages with first gas shipments expected in 2010. Initially, it will pump 4.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and will reach full capacity of 40 bcm by 2013 when the final stage is completed.

The new transit route is part of a larger project to build two parallel pipelines connecting China with Central Asia’s vast natural gas reserves. The pipes will stretch more than 7,000 kilometers from Turkmenistan, cross Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and enter China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. Uzbekistan started construction of its part this month while Turkmenistan launched its segment last year.

China’s CNPC, the leading operator of the project, has signed deals with state oil and gas firms of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan giving them 50 percent stakes in their respective parts of the pipeline.

Turkmenistan, sitting on Central Asia’s largest gas reserves, will be the major supplier of the pipeline. Kazakhstan plans to connect it to its own gas fields near the Caspian, as the fields reach production.

The pipeline is the first significant independent gas link connecting the former Soviet region with eastern markets while bypassing Russia. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is currently the main buyer of Central Asian gas.