Turkmenistan recalled the agreement under which only the countries participating in the project can supply gas to China via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Deputy Chairman of the State Concern Turkmengaz Myrad Archayev told the State News Agency of Turkmenistan "TDH".
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China (since 2009) have been cooperating on the transportation of natural gas from Central Asia to the People's Republic of China, with clearly agreed volumes, terms, economic and technical parameters.
"There are no sources of gas from other countries to fill the pipeline, and the existing scheme for distributing gas volumes supplied to China does not include plans to expand the number of participants in the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline project."
Out of the total agreed supply of 55bn cubic meters annualy, 40bn cubic meters are contracted by Turkmenistan, and the rest are provided by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Archayev said.
"Turkmenistan strictly adheres to its obligations to Chinese, Uzbek and Kazakh partners. And legitimately counts on reciprocity."
The Turkmen side believes that "any changes in the agreed and formalized volumes and schemes of gas supplies, using the existing infrastructure, require prior approval from all participants without exception".
The comment from Turkmengaz followed a statement by Dmitry Birichevsky, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's economic cooperation department. The day before, in an interview with RIA-Novosti, he spoke of a "trilateral gas alliance" involving Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
According to him, Russia does not rule out "the possibility of expanding trilateral co-operation in the gas sphere" and knows "that other states are also interested in it."
From 2009 to December 2022, about 350bn cubic metres were supplied from Turkmenistan to China.
Experts told Daryo that China is now embarking on a project to build a fourth branch of the pipeline, which would increase Turkmen gas supplies to 65bn cubic metres a year. This was the outcome of Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedov's state visit to Beijing in January 2023.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov
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