Turkmenistan and China reportedly reached an agreement during a March 1 meeting between Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Baymyrat Hojamuhammedow and Chinese energy officials for Turkmenistan to increase its natural gas exports to China by 20 billion cubic meters per year. This deal is not official, however, and depends on several details that are currently unresolved. Ashgabat and Beijing have not yet agreed on a price for Turkmen natural gas exports to China, and any deal between the two will have to gain approval from the transit states of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and, ultimately, from Russia, before any Central Asian projects — including the expanded Turkmen-China pipeline — can go into effect. Click here to read more about the prospective Turkmenistan-China energy deal.
