DUSHANBE, September 11, 2014, Asia-Plus - Construction of transit gas pipeline to China through Tajik territory has begun.

According to Tojiktransgaz (Tajik state-run natural gas distributor), China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is constructing tunnels for laying the gas pipeline through Tajik territory.

The transit gas pipeline that will run from Turkmenistan to China through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is expected to be finished in 2016.

“In Tajikistan, the gas pipeline will run through Tursunzoda, Shahrinav, Hisor, Roudaki, Vahdat, Fayzobod, Nourobod, Rasht and Jirgatol to Kyrgyzstan’s border,” an official source at Tojiktransgaz told Asia-Plus in an interview.

An official ceremony of the beginning of construction the Central Asia – China gas pipeline will take place in the Roudaki district on September 13.  The ceremony will be attended by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.  

According to the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan (MoEWR), Chinese oil giant, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is funding the construction of Line D (a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Tajik territory to China) and Tojiktransgaz (Tajik state-run natural gas distributor) will be co-participant in the project.

CNPC’s subsidiary, Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Company Ltd (Trans-Asia Gas), and Tojiktransgaz signed an agreement on launching a joint venture for construction and operation of the gas pipeline in March 2014.

CNPC reported in March this year that China and Tajikistan plan to start construction on the so-called D line on the Central Asia-China gas pipeline network. 

Line D is the fourth in the pipeline network and will run through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, to deliver gas from Turkmenistan to China.  The current pipeline network comprising lines A, B and C passes through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching China''s western Xinjiang province.

In November 2011, Ashgabat agreed to send an additional 25 billion cubic meters/year of gas to China, bringing total volumes to 65 billion cu m/year by 2020. Some of the additional gas supplies would come from the supergiant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, which both sides agreed to jointly develop last year.

The latest agreement with Tajikistan was signed in Dushanbe between Chinese ambassador to Tajikistan Fan Xianrong and Tajikistan''s First Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Resources Sulton Rahimov in March this year, CNPC said.

The pre-feasibility study for the D line was approved by China''s National Development and Reform Commission in June, the company said.

A broad agreement for the project was then signed with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan during President Xi Jinping''s visit to Central Asia in September 2013.

CNPC and state-owned Turkmengaz signed an initial sales and purchase agreement in July 2007 for China to import 30 billion cu m/year of Turkmen gas for 30 years.  In 2008, the two companies agreed to boost the volume to 40 billion cu m/year by 2015.

Turkmenistan began delivering gas to China in late 2009.

The 25 billion cu m/year C line is expected to be operational in October and will run parallel to the existing A and B lines, which have total capacity of 30 billion cu m/year.

By the end of China''s 13th Five Year Plan in 2020, all four lines in the network will be able to supply China with 80 billion cu m/year of gas, accounting for at least 40% of China''s total imported gas supplies, CNPC said.

We will recall that Tajikistan had received natural gas from Uzbekistan until 2013.  Uzbekistan suspended gas deliveries via pipeline to Tajikistan on December 31, 2012 after both sides failed to agree on gas prices following the expiration of their contract.  Uzbekistan, Tajikistan''s only supplier of gas, routinely suspends gas deliveries to its neighbor amid complaints of nonpayment.