OREANDA-NEWS. December 12, 2014. Natural gas imports to China through the China-Central Asia Gas Pipelines exceeded 65 million tonnes till October,  Khorgos customs in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced.

The pipelines, China's first major energy cooperation project in central Asia, run from Turkmenistan across Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China, with a total delivery capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas every year, one fifth of China's natural gas needs.

According to Khorgos customs, the lines delivered 17 million tonnes of gas from January to October this year, with a year-on-year growth of 3.5 percent.

As a part of major developments for the Silk Road economic belt, the China-Central Asia Gas Pipelines have three lines in operation. The construction of Line D started in September this year with a total investment of 6.7 billion U.S. dollars. The project is expected to be completed in 2020.