China to buy gas from Turkmenistan

Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), May 23 (IANS/RIA Novosti) China will import gas from the world's second largest gas reserve in the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan.

Kakageldy Abdullayev, CEO of Turkmenistan's national gas company Turkmengaz, said the Galkynysh field will be used to build up Turkmen gas exports to China.

The field is expected to produce 25 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year for China, with Turkmenistan's total gas exports to China planned to reach 65 billion cubic meters annually after the field's launch, Abdullayev said.

The field's reserves allow the Central Asian republic to implement several projects at a time, including the extraction of 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline project, which is currently being implemented, he said.

The Galkynysh field, formerly known as the South Yolotan-Osman field, has reserves of over 26.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, ranking second after the South Pars deposit shared between Iran and Qatar, according to data by Gaffney, Cline & Associates petroleum consulting company.

The gas field is expected to be launched this summer.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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