China's leader attends Sino-Turkmen pipeline ceremony
Shanghai. December 14. INTERFAX-CHINA - Chinese President Hu Jintao inaugurated the Sino-Turkmen Natural Gas Pipeline during his state visit to Turkmenistan, state media reported on Dec. 14.
Turkmen President Curbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov also attended the ceremony, Xinhua news agency reported.
The 1,833-kilometer long Sino-Turkmen Natural Gas Pipeline runs from the Turkmen-Uzbek border to western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It passes through Kazakhstan.
The pipeline will begin full operation in 2011. Turkmenistan agreed to supply China with 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually for 30 years through pipeline, according an agreement the two counties signed in June.
Inside China, the pipeline will connect to the 4,500-kilometer second West-East Pipeline, which delivers natural gas to Chinese consumers in 14 provinces and autonomous regions, according to China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the pipeline's operator.
-WV