The international Turkmenistan – China gas pipeline was officially launched at Samandepe field in Lebap province of Turkmenistan on 14 December. The ceremony was attended by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Chinese President Hu Jintao, as well as Presidents of the transit countries – Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan.
The heads of the four states participated in the opening of a set of industrial and infrastructure facilities that ensure the work of the pipeline. The first gas treatment plant, which was built on the right bank of the Amu Darya river, will feed the pipeline with 5 billion cubic meters of tank gas annually. The set of facilities also includes gas gathering points, compressor stations, a gas measuring installation, engineering and external communication networks. A large group of existing wells have undergone a major overhaul and several new wells have been drilled at Samandepe field.
It is expected that the 7,000 km long pipeline, through which up to 40 billion cubic meters of Turkmen natural gas will be supplied to China annually for the next 30 years, will reach the projected capacity by 2012. The total length of the international gas pipeline in the territory of Turkmenistan is 184,5 km, in Uzbekistan – 490 km, in Kazakhstan – more than 1300 kilometers, in China – more than 4500 kilometers.
