Turkmenistan is ready to increase natural gas supplies to China. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stated it during a speech at the China-Central Asia Online Summit today.

‘Turkmenistan is ready for an extensive discussion on increasing the supply of the Turkmen gas to China through the construction of the fourth pipeline,’ Berdimuhamedov said on the air of the Information Program "Watan" of the Turkmen Television.

The Head of State stressed that the Central Asian Region, in particular, Turkmenistan, has a powerful resource base that opens up huge prospects for cooperation in the economy, including the fuel and energy sector. Berdimuhamedov called the Turkmenistan-China Main Gas Pipeline, commissioned at the end of 2009, passing through the territory of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, its flagship.

The Turkmen leader noted that ‘the implementation of this project is an example of genuine partnership relations.’

Berdimuhamedov also stressed that it is impossible to stop there – ‘we need moving forward on the path of expanding and building up the energy partnership.’

The Turkmenistan-China Main Gas Pipeline includes three parallel lines (A, B and C) running along Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China. Turkmenistan provides the main volume of gas supplies to China – 35-40 billion cubic meters per year. Natural gas is supplied to 25 provinces of PRC and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In total, over 320 billion cubic meters of the Turkmen gas have been exported to China since the operation of this gas pipeline.

Gas consumption is growing in China. According to the agreements reached earlier, the supply of the Turkmen natural gas to China should increase to 65 billion cubic meters per year after the commissioning of the fourth line of the gas pipe.

The direction of the fourth line will be laid from the border of Turkmenistan through the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is designed to supply gas to the southern and central part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Its length is about 1000 km, with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The total cost of the project is 6.7 billion US dollars.