The Chinese and Turkmen presidents announced the completion of the first phase of the Galkynysh gas field, which will supply gas to China.
China National Petroleum Corporation also signed a new contract to import gas from Galkynysh” the world’s second-largest gas field” a deal experts said will ensure China’s growing natural gas supply and help Turkmenistan secure a stable buyer.
President Xi Jinping and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov attended the ceremony marking the start of operation of three processing plants at Galkynysh in South Turkmenistan.
Insiders told China Daily that each plant has an annual output of 10 billion cubic meters of gas.
A plant jointly developed by China National Petroleum Corporation will send its products entirely to China, and some gas from the other two plants is also likely to be sent to China.
Turkmenistan is China’s largest supplier of natural gas, and China is the largest overseas market for Turkmenistan’s natural gas.
Xi and Berdymukhamedov said that the annual transport of 65 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Turkmenistan to China by 2016 will be ensured through the world’s longest natural gas pipeline.
In 2009, the two nations put into operation a pipeline of more than 8,000 km to bring vital energy supplies through China’s western region.
China imports about 40 billion cubic meters a year from Turkmenistan.
According to insiders, most of the newly added 25 billion cubic meters will be from Galkynysh.
China National Petroleum Corporation, the country’s largest energy producer, announced that it had signed an agreement with Turkmenistan to import 25 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.
“By Sept 3, the total quantity of China’s natural gas import contracts were about 119.6 billion cubic meters (excluding the new contract of 25 billion cubic meters with Turkmenistan), which means that there is still a big shortage for China’s natural gas imports,” said Wang Ruiqi, a senior analyst with ICIS Energy.
She said the new contract with Turkmenistan will ensure China’s natural gas supply.
Turkmenistan holds the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves and possesses vast reserves of oil. It is estimated that 400 million people in China benefit from natural gas from Turkmenistan.

 Full Article From China Daily Sept. 5^th, 2013.