China, Turkmenistan Aim For Greater Cooperation On Natural Gas

China aims for greater cooperation on natural gas with Turkmenistan, as gas flows to China could more than double if new pipeline plans will go ahead, Chinese President Xi Jinping said according to Reuters.

• China is estimated to have imported 23.03mn tonnes of gas from Turkmenistan in the first 11 months of 2022, marking Turkmenistan as China’s largest piped gas exporter with flows equivalent to over 50% of China’s piped gas imports, according to Rystad Energy.
• Both countries are pushing ahead with a planned fourth pipeline - the 1,000-km D line which also links Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan - which will lift the annual supply capacity from Central Asia to 85bcm per year, from the current 55bcm, Chinese state media reported.
• Turkmenistan's gas flows to China would grow to nearly 70bcm by 2030, up from over 30bcm in 2021, after the D line commences operations, Wei Xiong, a senior analyst at Rystad said.