CNPC Opens Gas Processing Plant in Turkmenistan

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) earlier this week opened a gas processing plant in Turkmenistan, reports Azer News.

With the opening of this facility, China has cemented its position as a major buyer of Turkmen gas. The processing plant at the Bagtyarlyk field feeds gas to a major pipeline to China.

The new facility has a capacity of about nine billion cubic meters of gas per year and is estimated to cost more than $600 million, reports Azer News.

China has seen rapid rise in demand for natural gas and is looking to source up to 65 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan.

According to Reuters, between Dec. 14, 2009, and April 30, 2014, Turkmenistan had supplied 78.3 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to the China-bound pipeline. Bagtyarlyk gas field had accounted for 21.5 bcm of this. Bagtyarlyk, with reserves estimated at 1.3 trillion cubic metres of gas. 

Turkmenistan is one of the key players in the energy market and has the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran, and Qatar, and produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas per year.