Central Asia–China Gas Pipeline

From Global Energy Monitor
This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.
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Central Asia–China Gas Pipeline (Russian: Трубопровод Центральная Азия - Китай; Газопровод Туркмения - Китай) is an operating natural gas pipeline comprising of three parallel operating lines, A, B, and C, as well as an additional line D, which is under construction.[1]

Location

Lines A, B, and C

The three parallel segments run through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and China.[2] Specifically, they run from Saman-Depe on the Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan border east to Olot, Shymkent, and Alatau Pass in Kazakhstan, to Horgos, Xinjiang Province, China.[1]

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Line D

The fourth segment is planned to run from the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan to the Chinese border through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.[3][4]

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Project Details

Lines A, B, and C

  • Operator: PipeChina,[5] Turkmengaz, Uztransgaz, Intergas Central Asia[6], Asia Gas Pipeline LLP (AGP)[7]
  • Owner: PetroChina,[8] Turkmengaz, Uztransgaz, Qazaqgaz[9]
  • Parent company: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC),[10] Governments of Turkmenistan[11] and Uzbekistan,[12] Samruk-Kazyna SWF JSC[13]
  • Capacity:
    • Line A: 15 bcm/y
    • Line B: 15 bcm/y
    • Line C: 25 bcm/y[14]
  • Length: 1,833 km for each line, a total of 5,499 km
  • Diameter:
    • Line A: 1067 mm
    • Line B: 1067 mm
    • Line C: 1219 mm[15]
  • Status:: Operating[14]
  • Start year: 2009 (Line A), 2010 (Line B), 2014 (Line C)
  • Cost: US$11 billion[16]
  • Financing: China Development Bank and Bank of China[16] (loan)
  • Associated infrastructure: Bukhara-Tashkent-Bishkek-Almaty Gas Pipeline, West-East Gas Pipeline 3, West-East Gas Pipeline 2

Line D

  • Operator: Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd[17]
  • Owner: Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd[18]
  • Parent company: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC),[19] Tajiktransgaz[18]
  • Capacity: 30 bcm/y[15]
  • Length: 966 km[17]
  • Diameter:
  • Status: Construction[14][20]
  • Start Year: 2022[14], 2028 (estimated)[20]
  • Cost: USD 6.5 billion[20], USD 3.2 billion (Tajikistan-China segment) [18]
  • Financing: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)[18]
  • Associated infrastructure:

Route and Technical Description

Lines A, B, and C

The operating pipeline consists of three parallel segments, known as Lines A, B, and C, running parallel to each other. The pipeline runs through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and China.[21] Each segment measures about 1,833 km in length; 188 km of the pipeline are in Turkmenistan, 530 km in Kazakhstan,[22][23] and the remaining 1,115 km of the pipeline run from Kazakhstan to China.[24] The predominant share of the gas supply, about 80%, comes from Turkmenistan.[25] The pipeline is supplied from the Galkynysh and Dauletabad gas fields, as well as from the Bagtyyarlyk gas field in Turkmenistan, where it originates.[25] The pipeline is also supplied with gas from the Beineu-Bozoy-Shymkent Gas Pipeline to which it is linked in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. The Beineu-Bozoy-Shymkent Gas Pipeline delivers gas originating in gas fields of Kazakhstan.

The pipeline enters Uzbekistan in Olot and runs across Uzbekistan to Southern Kazakhstan parallel to the Bukhara-Tashkent-Bishkek-Almaty Gas Pipeline. The pipeline then crosses the Kazakhstan - China border at Horgos, where it connects to the West-East Gas Pipeline 2.[26][27]

The combined total capacity of the three segments is 55 billion cubic meters per year.[28] Construction of the first line cost US$7.3 billion.[29]

Line A is 1,833 kilometers in length and has a capacity of 15 bcm/year. It was inaugurated in December 2009.[29] Line A is owned and operated by CNPC.

Line B is 1,833 kilometers in length and has a capacity of 15 bcm/year. It was inaugurated in October 2010.[29] Line B is owned and operated by CNPC.

Line C is 1,833 kilometers in length and has a capacity of 25 bcm/year.[29] It became operational in 2014. Line C is owned by CNPC 52%, Baosteel (16%), China NCSSF (16%) and China Urban Infrastructure Fund (16%).[30]

Line D

The route of Line D segment of the pipeline is different from the other three segments.[17] It will run across five countries, from the border of Turkmenistan through the territories of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and China.[31] It is planned to originate at the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan.[3] In Tajikistan, the gas pipeline will run through Tursunzoda, Shahrinav, Hisor, Roudaki, Vahdat, Fayzobod, Nourobod, Rasht and Lakhsh (formerly Jirgatol) to Kyrgyzstan’s border. It will then go through Kyrgyzstan, crossing into China near the village of Irkeshtam on the Kyrgyzstan-China border.[25] The Chinese town of Wuqia will become the first receiving point.[20]

Line D is planned to be 966 km long with the capacity of 30 bcm/year.[32]

Background

Lines A, B, and C

The initial proposal for the Central Asia–China gas pipeline was presented as the Kazakhstan–China Gas Pipeline, which was to follow along the Kazakhstan-China Oil Pipeline. In June 2003, during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Kazakhstan, agreements to expedite the appraisal of the project were signed.[33] Following these agreements, KazMunayGas and PetroChina started a feasibility study of the pipeline project. At the same time, China continued negotiations with other Central Asian countries.

On 3 April 2006, China and Turkmenistan signed a framework agreement for pipeline construction and long-term gas supply.[34] In June 2007, during his visit to China, Turkmeni President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow signed an accord to speed up implementation of the Turkmeni-Chinese gas pipeline project. On 30 April 2007, Uzbekistan and China signed an agreement on the construction and exploitation of the pipeline's Uzbekistan section.[35] In July 2007, it was formally announced that Turkmenistan will join original Kazakhstan-China pipeline project.[36] On 8 November 2007, Kazakhstan's oil company KazMunayGas signed an agreement with the China National Petroleum Corporation on principles of future work on the pipeline.[37]

On August 30, 2007, the construction of the 188-kilometer long Turkmen section of the pipeline began. This section was built by Stroytransgaz, a subsidiary of Gazprom.[38] Main contractors were China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation, and Zeromax.[39] Construction of the Uzbek section started on June 30, 2008.[39][40] It was built by Asia Trans Gas, a joint venture of Uzbekneftegas and China National Petroleum Corporation.[24] Construction works of the Kazakh section started on July 9, 2008, and the first stage was finished in July 2009. It was built by Asian Gas Pipeline company, a joint venture of CNPC and KazMunayGas. The main contractors of this section were KazStroyService and China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation.[41] The first of the two initial parallel lines were completed in early November 2009.[22]

The Kazakh section of the pipeline was inaugurated on December 12, 2009 during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Kazakhstan.[23] The whole pipeline was inaugurated on December 14, 2009 in a ceremony in Saman-Depe during Hu Jintao's visit to Turkmenistan with the leaders of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.[42] On June 13, 2010, China and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on a branch line from Western Kazakhstan.

The second line was completed by the end of 2010. Construction of the third line began in 2012.[43] It became operational on June 15, 2014, and is expected to reach the designed throughput of 25 billion cubic meters per annum in December 2015.[28]

Line D

Line D would be 1,000 kilometers in length and would carry an additional 30 billion cubic meters per year of gas from Turkmenistan's gas fields to the Chinese border through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.[44] Line D would be operated by the Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Company Ltd (Trans-Asia Gas), a subsidiary of CNPC, and Tojiktransgaz.

China signed agreements with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to build a fourth line of the Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline in September 2013.[45] On March 4, 2014, CNPC's subsidiary Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited signed an agreement with Tajiktransgaz on jointly establishing a natural gas pipeline company to manage the construction of Line D. On August 19, CNPC and Uzbekneftegaz signed an agreement on Line D of the Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline in Uzbekistan. Under the agreement, CNPC and Uzbekneftegaz will establish a JV company to construct and operate the Uzbekistan section of Line D.[44] Because the Tajik section is the longest and the most challenging segment of the pipeline, in 2014 the stakeholders decided to start the construction process from Tajikistan.[46] Construction was planned to start in 2014[14] but was postponed for technical reasons until 2018.[47]

In November 2018, the operating pipeline was working at its maximum capacity which underscored the need for an additional segment to be constructed. The demand for gas in China is increasing with each year, necessitating this project to move forward.[48] Construction partially resumed in January 2018[49] and was expected to be completed by 2020. In January 2020, it was reported that construction was suspended but that the pipeline was expected to be completed by 2022.[14] In January 2020, the first tunnel project, the first mountain-crossing effort, was completed.[50][32]

In June 2021, several deals were finalized related to the pipeline.[51] In one, a subsidiary of CNPC has won a tender from Turkmengaz for developing new wells at the Galkynysh gas field; in another, Kazakhstan-based Sozak Oil and Gas JSC was reportedly close to finalizing a $1.2 billion EPC contract with China’s CAMC Engineering for a natural gas project that involves well drilling, exploration, and pipeline work in the Kazakhstani regions of Turkistan and Kyzylorda.[51] These two recent agreements may indicate a renewed momentum for the continued construction of the pipeline.

In May 2023, speaking at the China-Central Asia Summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged parties to accelerate laying Line D, almost a decade after the start of construction in Tajikistan. Following that, CNPC launched a feasibility study for a 200-kilometer connection from Xinjiang's border with Kyrgyzstan to the Chinese town of Wuqia as the first receiving point. Construction on the domestic trunkline in Xinjiang could begin in 2024. According to a source at CNPC, the company's commercial teams are "standing by" awaiting a mandate to advance the project, without elaborating. Without a final gas supply contract, CNPC has only built part of the first tunnel in the mountainous Tajikistan capital Dushanbe where Line D begins.[20]

The pipeline is viewed as a rival of the Russia's second Siberia pipeline connection with China - the Power of Siberia 2 - which Russia is trying to use to make up for shrunken sales in Europe due to the Ukraine crisis. In 2022, China imported 35 bcm gas or worth $10.3 billion via three pipelines from Turkmenistan, compared with 16 bcm via a single pipeline from Russia at about $4 billion. Some experts predict that new Turkmenistan gas via Line D could start flowing around 2028 while a new Russian line, designed at 50 bcm a year that sources gas from West Siberia, could start operating in the early 2030s.[20]

Financing

Initial financing for the pipeline of US$11 billion in loans was provided in November 2008 by China Development Bank and Bank of China.[16]

Articles and resources

References

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Related GEM.wiki articles

External resources

External articles

Wikipedia also has an article on the Central Asia–China Gas Pipeline (Central Asia–China Gas Pipeline). This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].