Tashkent time is - 
20 December 2009
01:15 -
Turkmen gas starts flowing to China
Dawn reported that Mr Hu Jintao president of China unveiled a landmark pipeline to transport Turkmen natural gas to China.
As per repot, Mr Hu, together with the presidents of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, turned a symbolic wheel at a refinery in Samandepe in Turkmenistan’s vast Karakum desert which opened the pipeline to start the first gas flowing.
Mr Hu said that “China is positive about our cooperation and the opening of this gas pipeline is another platform for collaboration and cooperation between our friendly nations.”
The 7,000 kilometers gas pipeline is a significant victory for Beijing and it effectively ends decades of Russian dominance over the export of Central Asia’s strategic energy supplies. It first runs for 1,800 kilometers in Central Asia snaking through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before linking up with a further 5,000 plus kilometers of pipeline in China’s far west Xinjiang region.
The China National Petroleum Corporation will eventually import up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas a year through the pipeline when it reaches full capacity in 2012 to 2013.
Central Asia, a vast resource rich region wedged between Afghanistan, China Russia and Iran has been dominated by Moscow since the Kremlin began aggressively expanding its imperial borders in the 19th century. // SteelGuru
As per repot, Mr Hu, together with the presidents of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, turned a symbolic wheel at a refinery in Samandepe in Turkmenistan’s vast Karakum desert which opened the pipeline to start the first gas flowing.
Mr Hu said that “China is positive about our cooperation and the opening of this gas pipeline is another platform for collaboration and cooperation between our friendly nations.”
The 7,000 kilometers gas pipeline is a significant victory for Beijing and it effectively ends decades of Russian dominance over the export of Central Asia’s strategic energy supplies. It first runs for 1,800 kilometers in Central Asia snaking through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before linking up with a further 5,000 plus kilometers of pipeline in China’s far west Xinjiang region.
The China National Petroleum Corporation will eventually import up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas a year through the pipeline when it reaches full capacity in 2012 to 2013.
Central Asia, a vast resource rich region wedged between Afghanistan, China Russia and Iran has been dominated by Moscow since the Kremlin began aggressively expanding its imperial borders in the 19th century. // SteelGuru
