China launches landmark Central Asia gas pipeline

A landmark pipeline from Central Asia to China began pumping natural gas today, loosening Russia's grip over the region's vast energy resources.

At a midday ceremony in a field in northeastern Turkmenistan, the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan together rotated a pipeline spigot to raucous applause and cheering, sending the first consignment of gas on its way to the energy-hungry Asian nation.

By becoming the first major Central Asia gas export route to completely bypass Russia, the new pipeline will play a key role in wresting the former Soviet republics in the region out of Moscow's economic sphere of influence.

"The pipeline passing through our countries will revive the ancient Silk Road, once a conduit for the intensive exchange of goods between Asia and Europe," Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov said in a speech before the opening.

The route stretches around 1,800 kilometers from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan up to Kazakhstan's border with China and then extends more than 4,500 kilometers into China itself.

"The successful implementation of this project could become a prototype for all international energy partnerships," Berdymukhamedov said. "This pipeline will have a positive impact across the entire region and beyond, and it will become a major contributing factor to security in Asia."