DUSHANBE, March 11, 2014, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan will be a transit country for Turkmen natural gas to China and the issue of importing Turkmen natural gas into Tajikistan through the Central Asia-China gas pipeline has not been discussed, Saidahmad Sharofiddinov, the head of Tojiktransgaz (Tajik state-controlled natural gas distributor), told Asia-Plus Tuesday afternoon.
The Central Asia–China gas pipeline (known also as Turkmenistan–China gas pipeline) is a natural gas pipeline from Central Asia to China’s northeast Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
The initial proposal for Central Asia–China gas pipeline was presented as the Kazakhstan–China gas pipeline, which was to follow along the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline. In June 2003, during Chinese president’s visit to Kazakhstan, agreements to expedite the appraisal of the project were signed. At the same time China continued negotiations with other Central Asian countries.
On April 3, 2006, China and Turkmenistan signed a framework agreement on the pipeline construction and long-term gas supply. In June 2007, during Turkmen president’s visit to China, an accord to speed up implementation of the Turkmen-Chinese gas pipeline project was signed. On April 30, 2007, China and Uzbekistan signed an agreement on the construction and exploitation of the pipeline”s Uzbekistan section. In July 2007, it was formally announced that Turkmenistan will join original Kazakhstan-China pipeline project.
Construction works of the Kazakh section started on July 9, 2008 and the first stage was finished in July 2009. The first (Line A) of two parallel lines was completed early November 2009. The second line (Line B) was completed by the end of 2010. Construction of the third line (Line C), designed to deliver 25 bcm/a of natural gas from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China, began in 2012. It is estimated that gas supply will commence in the near future, and reach the designed throughput in December 2015, enhancing the total transmission capacity of the Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline to 55 bcm/a.
“Construction of Line D (a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Tajik territory to China) will be funded by Chinese oil giant, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and Tojiktransgaz will be co-participant in the project,” Sharofiddinov told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, it is still unknown when construction of Tajikistan’s section of Line D starts. “We have to register our joint venture and choose contractor that will take at least six or seven months,” Tojiktransgaz top manager noted.
A government-to-government agreement on construction of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Tajik territory to China was signed by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in September last year.
This more than 400-kilometer pipeline is expected to carry natural gas from Turkmenistan’s southern the Galkynysh gas field through Afghanistan and Tajikistan into China’s northeast Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region. This gas pipeline is expected to be finished in 2016.
