Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 42 2022

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

Turkmenistan once more discussing

ambitions to double gas exports to China

TURKMENISTAN TURKMENISTAN is again referring to appar- mid-September cooperation in energy and other
ent plans to approximately double its natural gas areas on the sidelines of the 22nd meeting of the
Turkmenistan has long exports to China, which would mean increasing Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Coop-
aspired to ramp up supplies to around 65bn cubic metres (bcm) eration Organization (SCO).
its gas exports, with annually. President Xi Jinping highlighted that
limited success. Turkmen news site Orient.tm has reported “the sides are interested in increasing the
on the plans. scale of cooperation between the countries
The ambitions were discussed after Turkmen- in the areas of natural gas [production] and
istan and China agreed to develop the second non-commodities”.
stage of the Galkynysh gas field. No time-scale Turkmen president added that "the current
on the plans has been provided. Turkmen-Chinese partnership has seen devel-
Turkmenistan supplied 34 bcm of gas to opment in such strategic areas as trade, energy
China in 2021, making it the largest supplier of complex and transport - namely cross-border
gas to the Chinese market. cargo transport - as well as in the areas of culture
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, former and education."
president and present speaker of the Turkmen China has extended its economic footprint
parliament's upper chamber, disclosed in early in Turkmenistan in recent years, and it is now
October that Turkmenistan was trying to boost strongly involved in the Central Asian country's
its natural gas exports to China. natural gas industry. Chinese firms are heav-
"Today, we are working on increasing the sup- ily involved in Turkmenistan's petroleum and
ply of Turkmen natural gas considering Chinese energy complex.
economy's growing demand and Turkmenistan's The Galkynysh gas deposit said to be one of
resources. We are ready to discuss in detail the the largest in the world with a potential storage
possibility of building a fourth pipeline route capacity of more than 27mn cubic meters. China
from Turkmenistan to China," Berdimuhame- receives gas from the Galkynysh field through
dov was reported by local media as saying on the Central Asia-China pipeline. The pipeline is
October 3. planned to transport 40bn cubic meters of gas
Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov per year, with a maximum capacity of 55bn cubic
and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed in meters. ™

Iranian lawmaker suggests country

could serve as hub for Russian oil, gas

RUSSIA AN Iranian lawmaker has suggested that the Russia is scrambling to find other markets for
country could serve as a hub for the transit its oil and gas supply amid the severing of energy
Iran and Russia are of Russian gas as Russia’s existing options ties with Europe. The suggestion from Iran
expanding their energy for pumping gas to markets become more comes days after Russian President Vladimir
ties. limited. Putin proposed establishing Turkey as a hub for
“As one of the largest exporters of oil and gas delivering gas supply to Europe, following the
in the world, [Russia] is a strategic partner of Iran demise of the Nord Stream pipelines at the end
in various energy sectors,” Alireza Varnaseri, a of September.
member of the Iranian parliament’s commission Moscow and Tehran have sought to bolster
for energy, told the state-owned Shana news their energy ties, with Gazprom recently signing
agency. “Co-operation between Iran and Russia a $40bn deal to invest in Iran’s oil and gas indus-
helps in the development of Iranian oil and gas try. The two sides have also discussed a gas swap
fields … Iran can be a hub for transiting Russian arrangement that would see Iran take around
oil and gas products to other countries.” 15mn cubic metres per day of Russian gas. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 20•October•2022