Following the construction of a fourth gas pipeline connecting the two nations, Turkmenistan has announced plans to increase natural gas exports to China and expand supply to 65 billion cubic meters annually, Caspian News reported.
The news was announced on October 14 by the Turkmen news outlet Orient.tm, following a deal between Turkmenistan and China to develop the Galkynysh gas field’s second phase. In 2021, Turkmenistan supplied China with 34 billion cubic meters of gas.
The largest gas provider to China’s domestic market is Turkmenistan. Early in October, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, a former president and speaker of the upper chamber of the Turkmen parliament, disclosed that the country was attempting to enhance its natural gas exports to China, according to Caspian News.
Midway through September, on the margins of the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow discussed cooperation in energy and other sectors (SCO).
The parties are interested in expanding the scope of cooperation between the nations in the fields of natural gas [production] and non-commodities, President Xi Jinping emphasized. Such initiatives will revitalize the growth of bilateral economic cooperation, according to Orient.tm’s September 15 report.
When it was his turn to speak, the president of Turkmenistan stated that “the existing Turkmen-Chinese collaboration has seen progress in such vital sectors as trade, energy complex, transport – specifically cross-border freight transport – as well as in the areas of culture and education.”
Caspian News reported that the expansion of relations in the energy, transportation, and communications sectors as well as the chemical, textile, and high-tech industries were topics of conversation between President Serdar Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan and China’s Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui while they were in Turkmenistan on September 6 and 7.
China has expanded its economic presence in Turkmenistan recently and is now significantly involved in the natural gas industry in the Central Asian nation. The petroleum and energy complex in Turkmenistan is actively being co-operated with by Chinese businesses.
