The issues of increasing the supply of Turkmen natural gas to the energy market of the region will be discussed by the leaders of the countries of Central Asia and China at the upcoming summit in Xi'an on May 18-19, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reports today, referring to the opinions of experts.

Earlier, in an article by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, published in January this year in the People's Daily newspaper, it was reported that the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline commissioned at the end of 2009 became the largest joint energy project implemented on the Asian continent. Since its operation, over 350 billion cubic meters of natural gas have been delivered through it. “And this is not the limit,” said the head of Turkmenistan.

Gas supplies to the Middle Kingdom are carried out along three lines (A, B and C), passing along the route Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China. Turkmen natural gas can be used not only by the end consumer - China, but also by transit countries - Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

In recent years, the parties have been discussing the construction of the fourth branch (D) of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, which should run along the route Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China. Moreover, this route was chosen at the request of Dushanbe and Bishkek, which are in need of energy resources.

The construction of the 4th line will make it possible to bring the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline to its design capacity and annually supply up to 65 billion cubic meters to the energy market of the Celestial Empire. In addition, branch D will allow direct supplies of Turkmen gas to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Earlier it was reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping invited Serdar Berdimuhamedov to the Central Asia-China summit.