OREANDA-NEWS. December 31, 2009. In the township of Otar in Almaty region (128 km from the city of Almaty) the official ceremony of commissioning the Kazakh section of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline was held. A teleconference bridge was arranged between the township of Otar and the city of Astana, where President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao, Chairman of the Board of Directors, JSC NC "KazMunayGas" Timur Kulibayev, Chairman of the Management Board, JSC NC “KazMunayGas” Kairgeldy Kabyldin, President of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Jiang Jiemin and other officials took part.

- The “Kazakhstan-China” main gas pipeline has been designed to increase the transit potential of Kazakhstan, joining into one network the deposits of Turkmenistan and Central Asian and the Chinese and South-Eastern Asian market, strategically important for the future development of the region’s economy – Kairgeldy Kabyldin, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC NC “KazMunayGas” noted.

This project is being implemented by JSC NC “KazMunayGas” and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) under the Intergovernmental Agreement “On construction and operation of the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline of 18 August 2007 and the Heads of Agreement on Construction” executed between KMG and CNPC on 8 November 2007. The project costs are 6.7 bln US dollars.

For implementation and management of the project KazTransGas JSC (a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSC NC “KazMunayGas”) and Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited established on a parity basis the Asian Gas Pipeline LLP joint venture on 15 February 2008. On 9 July 2008 construction of the gas pipeline commenced, the first stage of which was completed ahead of the work schedule, in record-setting time for the international practice. Over 4 thousand people were engaged in the construction.

The Kazakhstan-China main gas pipeline will ensure transit of natural gas from Turkmenistan to the PRC across the Territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and will allow establishing additional chains of supply of gas to Zhambyl, South-Kazakhstan and Almaty regions. Its length is 1300 km, the designed capacity is 30 billion cubic metres annually, with a further increase up to 40 billion cub. metres. The Project also provides for the necessary technical infrastructure for gas supply to the existing main gas pipelines and local distribution networks. On implementation of the second stage (the Beineu-Bozoi-Akbulak main gas pipeline project) there will be an opportunity to triple the gas supply of the southern regions of Kazakhstan and the city of Almaty.

In construction technical solutions and equipment complying with the world industrial safety and environment standards have been used. Particularly, changes to the gas pipeline route have been made to by-pass areas where historic and cultural monuments are located.

Completion of construction of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline is planned for December, 2012.