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<DIV><B><A
href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/china-prioritising-turkmenistan-over-russia-next-big-pipeline-project-2023-05-24/"
target=_blank>China prioritising Turkmenistan over Russia in next big pipeline
project</A></B></DIV>
<DIV><B>Reuters</B><BR><BR>24 May 2023 -- China is accelerating the
building of a long-delayed Central Asian pipeline to source gas from
Turkmenistan even as Russia pushes its own new Siberian connection, as Beijing
juggles its energy security needs with diplomatic priorities.<BR><BR>Beijing is
keen to bolster Central Asia ties under its Belt & Road Initiative, but
nearly a decade after construction began, the "Line D" project has been hobbled
by complex price talks and the technical hurdles of laying a pipeline crossing
another three central Asian nations, Chinese state oil officials
said.<BR><BR>But Moscow's recent push to land its second Siberia pipeline
connection with China, the Power of Siberia 2, to make up for shrunken sales in
Europe due to the Ukraine crisis, provides Beijing a lever to advance the
central Asian project, according to Chinese oil officials and industry
consultants.<BR><BR>"Central Asian pipelines are considered a cornerstone
investment in China's energy and geopolitical space. It's a supply channel with
strategic value that supersedes commercial concerns," a state-oil official
familiar with China National Petroleum Corp's (CNPC) global strategy told
Reuters.<BR><BR>China may eventually seal both deals to feed its massive
long-term gas needs, but is prioritising Turkmenistan, industry officials said,
as Beijing has long seen Central Asia as a frontier to expand trade, secure
energy and maintain stability in its once-restive western Xinjiang
region.<BR><BR>Combined, multi-year contracts worth tens of billions of dollars
to bring gas via both pipelines would meet 20% of China's current demand. The
pipelines are key to Beijing's goal of using gas as a bridge fuel towards its
carbon neutrality targets and also helping to shield it from the volatile
tanker-carried liquefied natural gas (LNG) market.<BR><BR>Estimated in 2014 to
cost $6.7 billion, Line D would carry 30 billion cubic meters of gas a
year.<BR><BR>Speaking last week at the first in-person summit of central Asian
leaders in the ancient Silk Road city of Xian, President Xi Jinping urged
parties to accelerate laying Line D, which would be China's fourth gas pipeline
to the region, almost a decade after the start of construction in
Tajikistan.<BR><BR>In 2022, China imported 35 bcm gas or worth $10.3 billion via
three pipelines from Turkmenistan, compared with 16 bcm via a single pipeline
from Russia at about $4 billion.<BR><BR>'LINE D GETTING READY'<BR><BR>Reflecting
renewed urgency, CNPC last week launched the feasibility study for a
200-kilometer connection from Xinjiang's border with Kyrgyzstan to the Chinese
town of Wuqia as the first receiving point, said a senior source involved in
appraising the project.<BR><BR>"This means D Line is getting ready," the person
told Reuters, adding that construction on the domestic trunkline in Xinjiang
could begin next year.<BR><BR>Separately, a CNPC official told Reuters last week
that the company's commercial teams are "standing by" awaiting a mandate to
advance the project, without elaborating.<BR><BR>Without a final gas supply
contract, CNPC has only built part of the first tunnel in the mountainous
Tajikistan capital Dushanbe where Line D begins, the official
said.<BR><BR>China's state planner the National Development and Reform
Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<BR><BR>A CNPC
spokesperson declined to comment.<BR><BR>Consultancy SIA Energy and Rystad
Energy predicted new Turkmenistan gas via Line D could start flowing around 2028
while a new Russian line, designed at 50 bcm a year that sources gas from West
Siberia, could start operating in the early 2030s.<BR><BR>IMPORT
LOSSES<BR><BR>China is paying some 30% more for Turkmen gas, delivered via three
existing pipelines since 2009, than from Russia, which began pumping the fuel
from East Siberia in late 2019, Chinese customs data showed.<BR><BR>Facing years
of import losses as it is unable to pass on the cost to a regulated domestic
market, CNPC has failed to negotiate a lower price for Turkmen fuel in rounds of
price reviews, a second industry source with knowledge of the matter told
Reuters.<BR><BR>Ashgabat wanted to be paid "in line with global pricing
practices", a Turkmenistan official familiar with the talks said.<BR><BR>Sources
and officials declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak with
media.<BR><BR>RUSSIA OVERTURES<BR><BR>Still, the price negotiations are likely
to be complex as China has multiple supply options that also include domestic
production and new long-term LNG contracts with Qatar and the United States,
said Jason Feer, Houston-based head of business intelligence at consultancy
Poten & Partners.<BR><BR>"The prices need to be high enough to justify the
expense of building an expensive pipeline but low enough to be competitive,"
said Feer.<BR><BR>Moscow's recent overtures to fast-track the shorter Power of
Siberia 2 connection, via Mongolia, and a more recent proposal by Almaty to
supply China via Khazakhstan offered CNPC leverage in finalising the Turkmen
link, said the CNPC official and the second industry source.<BR><BR>"CNPC could
use the Russian proposals to bargain for a better price for Line D while taking
its time to discuss new Russian supplies," said the second source.<BR><BR><B><A
href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-main-import-gas-pipelines-2023-05-24/"
target=_blank>Factbox: China's main import gas pipelines</A></B><BR><BR>China,
the world's third-largest gas buyer, imports the fuel in gaseous form via
long-distance pipelines from three sources - central Asia, predominantly
Turkmenistan, as well as Russia and Myanmar.<BR><BR>Its pipeline gas volumes
totalled 45.8 million tonnes in 2022, meeting 17% of China's gas
demand.<BR><BR>China separately imported 63.4 million tonnes of tanker shipped
liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year, with total LNG imports meeting 41% of
Chinese demand.<BR><BR>The remainder of China's gas was sourced
domestically.<BR><BR>CENTRAL ASIA<BR><BR>China has since 2008 laid three
trunklines at an estimated combined cost of more than $14 billion, connecting
gas fields in Turkmenistan to the border with China's northwestern Xinjiang
region.<BR><BR>Lines A and B start at the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,
crossing Kazakhstan before entering China at border town Khorgos. Each spans
1,833-kilometers (1138.97 miles) and together they are able to transport 30
billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year.<BR><BR>Line C, parallel to A and B,
started pumping gas to China in 2014 with designed annual capacity of 25 bcm,
though the line has been operating under capacity as domestic pipeline
infrastructure lags.<BR><BR>A senior CNPC executive told Chinese media in 2017
that China should have recouped the investment of the three lines within 7.5
years if operating at full throttle.<BR><BR>LINE D<BR><BR>The newest, Line D,
starts at Turkmenistan's giant Galkynysh field, one of the largest gas fields in
the world with reserves exceeding 21 trillion cubic meters.<BR><BR>The line,
which would be the first to also cross Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,
would be 966 km long with annual carrying capacity of 30 bcm. Countries signed
preliminary agreements with China in 2013/14.<BR><BR>In September 2014, Chinese
President Xi Jinping attended a ceremony in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan,
marking the start of construction of the D line, state media People's Daily
reported then.<BR><BR>The project, however, has been slow in coming due to the
complex price negotiations between China and Turkmenistan, technical challenges
developing Galkynysh field and difficulties laying the pipelines through the
mountainous terrains.<BR><BR>POWER OF SIBERIA 1<BR><BR>Russian gas giant Gazprom
began delivering gas to China in late 2019 via the 3,000-km Power of Siberia
project linking Siberian fields with northeast China. Supplies reached 16 bcm
last year with plans to ramp up to reach 38 bcm by 2025.<BR><BR>The pipeline is
part of a 30-year, $400 billion deal signed in 2014, a landmark agreement that
marked Moscow's diversifying exports away from its top client Europe.<BR><BR>FAR
EAST SAKHALIN PROJECT<BR><BR>In February of 2022 during Russian President
Vladimir Putin's visit in Beijing, China agreed to import gas from Russia's Far
East island of Sakhalin, via a new pipeline across the Japan Sea to northeast
China, with deliveries reaching up to 10 bcm a year around 2026.<BR><BR>POWER OF
SIBERIA 2<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>To compensate for the now-defunct Nord Stream 1 pipeline linking Russia
with Germany, Putin began last September to revive Power of Siberia 2, which was
first proposed years ago.<BR><BR>The proposed 2,600-km pipeline would bring 50
bcm gas from the huge Yamal peninsula reserves in west Siberia. Gazprom began a
feasibility study on the project in 2020 and Russia's Deputy Prime Minister
Alexander Novak said in late March Moscow was aiming for agreeing contracts this
year.<BR><BR>MYANMAR-YUNNAN PROJECT<BR><BR>The 793-km Myanmar-China Gas
Pipeline, linking Ramree Island on the western coast of Myanmar with Chinese
border city Ruili of southwestern Yunnan Province, began operating in 2013. It's
designed to carry 12 bcm a year.<BR><BR>About 20% of the gas supplies are
reserved for local Myanmar market.<BR><BR>But due to low productions from
offshore Myanmar gas fields, the pipeline has for years been running under
capacity, with 2022 deliveries to China at 3.8 bcm according to Chinese
customs.</DIV>
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<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=esimonovster@gmail.com href="mailto:esimonovster@gmail.com">eugene
simonov</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, May 27, 2023 10:07 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fwd: [China-Global-Info] China prioritising Turkmenistan
over Russia in next big pipeline project</DIV></DIV>
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