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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Turkmenistan
Index
The interstate pipeline system retained its value at the time of
independence and is a priority of the republic's economic development
plans. The government has pursued international projects to build gas
pipelines through Iran to Turkey, through Afghanistan to Pakistan, and
through Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China to Japan.
Despite Russia's opposition and United States pressure not to do so, in
August 1994, President Niyazov signed an agreement with Iran to begin the
Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey-Europe gas pipeline. The pipeline will extend
4,000 kilometers through Iran, Turkey, and Bulgaria, with an initial
capacity of 15 billion cubic meters annually, later to be expanded to 28
billion cubic meters. The project will cost US$8 billion, of which Iran
will finance US$3.5 billion, and construction will begin in 1998.
After a Japanese delegation held talks in Ashgabat in 1992, the
Mitsubishi corporation developed plans to build a 6,700-kilometer gas
pipeline through Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, and China to the Yellow Sea coast
opposite Japan, where a natural gas liquefaction plant will be built to
convert the gas prior to shipment. The plan calls for constructing a
pipeline with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters annually at a cost of
US$12 billion. Turkmenistan, Kazakstan, and Uzbekistan also have
petitioned the Russian Federation to help them build a new 725-kilometer
gas pipeline through Russia and Ukraine for exporting natural gas to
Ukraine and Europe.
Of the two main existing lines, the Shatlik-Khiva line running
south-north from near Saragt to Khiva connects with a pipeline from the
Uzbekistan gas field near Bukhoro. Intersecting this line is the
Mary-Ashgabat line running east-west from near Mary to Ashgabat. The other
main line is the Central Asia-Center line running north from Okarem to
Nebitdag, northwest to the Garabogaz Gulf on the Caspian Sea, and
connecting with the main line to Europe through Ukraine.
Data as of March 1996
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