China for the past seven years has bought 160 bcm of Turkmen gas, and has become its largest importer. This was told by the Chinese Ambassador to Turkmenistan Sun Weidong.
He recalled that, at the moment, the three built lines of the Turkmenistan – China gas pipeline have a design capacity of 55 bcm a year, according to the national news agency of Turkmenistan (www.turkmenistan.gov.tm).
The route of the gas pipeline was laid on the territory of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. One-third of the gas consumed by the inhabitants of Beijing is supplied from Turkmenistan. It is also planned to build the fourth line of the gas pipeline through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. After that, the volume of gas exports will increase even more.
The diplomat also said the bilateral trade turnover amounted to $ 5.4 billion for the first eleven months of last year.
* The gas pipeline Turkmenistan – China with a length of 1,800 km was put into operation in December 2009. Construction of the pipeline was entirely financed by the Chinese side.