Pipeliners

30 April 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Uzbekistan plans to build a gas pipeline to China with a capacity of 30 billion cubic metres per year, equivalent to half the Central Asian state's gas production, the Uzbek government said today. A Reuters report quoted the statement as saying Ma Kai, the head of China's top state planning body, and Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov signed an agreement in Tashkent today about the principles of building and running a pipeline along the 530-kilometre route. "It would be 530 kilometres long and have a throughput capacity of 30 billion cubic metres per year. The project includes a plan to bring two compressor stations on stream," Reuters quoted the statement as saying. The statement did not give a time frame or name participants in the project. Earlier this month an Uzbek government source said China's Sinopec had pulled out of a project to explore new Uzbek projects and revitalise stalled projects with state energy firm Uzbekneftegas. A source told the news agency that Uzbekistan would focus instead on co-operation with another Chinese oil major, China National Petroleum Corporation. Uzbekistan has traditionally supplied gas not to China but to Russia, where pipeline monopoly Gazprom controls pipeline networks threading into the lucrative European market. Gazprom is itself keen to buy the region's gas to shore up its own reserves. Last year Uzbekistan produced 62 Bcm of gas and exported 12.6 Bcm. Gazprom bought 9 Bcm, with the remainder going to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The bulk of Uzbekistan's production is consumed by its population of 26 million. It was not immediately clear how the country plans to free up enough gas to fill a 30 Bcm pipeline.