Cross-regional flow of gas to increase

Natural gas delivered through the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline from Central Asia to China is expected to pick up as construction of a fourth pipeline is proceeding in full swing, according to operator China National Petroleum Corporation.

The company has been actively negotiating with various partners to accelerate the construction of the D-line project of the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline which, with a designed gas transmission capacity of 30 billion cubic meters per year, will pass through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and form a gas pipeline network together with the already completed A, B and C lines of the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline.

The current A, B and C lines pass through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with a designed gas transmission capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year, the CNPC said.

Oil and gas resources from Central Asia will play a significant role in China's energy security supply system, and China's strengthened energy cooperation with Central Asian countries will also provide a large number of job opportunities for gas-source countries, as well as countries along the pipeline, the company said.

Figures from the CNPC revealed that the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline supplied 42 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China last year, and the pipeline currently transports around 100 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.

By the end of last year, it had delivered a total of 423 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China since its opening in 2009, providing gas for more than 500 million residents in 27 provincial-level regions and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, it said.

According to the CNPC, Central Asian countries are among the first with which the company started oil and gas cooperation.

With CNPC's technological advantages, oil and gas exploration in Central Asia have achieved major breakthroughs during the past few years, which not only diversified the energy exports of Central Asian countries but also ensured domestic energy security in China, it said.

The company vows to continuously step up cooperation in the energy sector with Central Asian countries, from traditional to renewable energies, as well as technological equipment manufacturing, it said.

The Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline, China's first direct oil import pipeline enabling oil imports from Central Asia, had delivered around 250 million metric tons of crude oil to China by the end of last year since it opened in 2006, it said.

An analyst said the gas and crude transmission pipelines between Central Asia and China are important strategic energy channels for China, a major oil and gas consumer and importer on the global stage.

While Central Asian countries are rich in oil and gas, cooperation between the two parties shares complementary advantages of resources and markets with broad development prospects, said Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University.

Lin believes cooperation between the two parties in the energy sector will continue to expand in the years to come, as domestic energy companies have been actively participating in the planning and construction of the energy and power sector in recent years.