Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline to begin filling Dec 16 - KazMunayGas
ALMATY. Oct 7 (Interfax) - The gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China will begin being filled on December 16, KazMunayGas (KMG) President Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009 conference in Almaty on Wednesday.
"Progress in construction [of the first strand of the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline] enables us to set December 16 as the fillup date for the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan pipeline," Kabyldin said.
The gas pipeline has capacity to ship 40 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year. Volumes will initially amount to 4.5 bcm a year, with full capacity achieved by late 2013.
Of that total, 30 bcm will be shipped to China and 10 bcm will be used internally by Kazakhstan.
The 1,304.5-kilometer Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline will consist of two parallel 1,067-mm pipelines.
The pipeline segment in Kazakhstan is slated for completion in June 2010.
The Asian Gas Pipeline company was set up to build the Kazakhstan-China pipeline. It was founded by Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited and Kazakhstan's state-run KazTransGas.
The Turkmenistan-China pipeline will stretch more than 10,000 kilometers, including about 200 kilometers in Turkmenistan, 550 kilometers in Uzbekistan, over 1,300 kilometers in Kazakhstan, and about 8,000 kilometers China.
The entire project will cost an estimated $20 billion.