As part of a festive trip last Saturday to the Lebap region, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov took part in the solemn ceremony of commissioning a new gas gathering station.

 By helicopter, the head of state arrived in the Farab province, where the Gadyn field is located.  A solemn event was held there on the occasion of the commissioning of a new facility of the country's gas industry with the participation of the country's leadership corps and representatives of CNPC, in partnership with which this project was implemented.

 The General Director of the branch of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Turkmenistan, Chen Huailong, informed the President about the infrastructure, gas pipeline system and the average annual capacity of the commissioned gas gathering station.

 As reported, today China is one of the active partners of Turkmenistan in the fuel and energy industry.  In recent years, Chinese specialists have done a lot of work on the right bank of the Amu Derya, the Galkynysh field and the Bagtyyarlyk contract area.

 Informing about the technical equipment of the new gas gathering station, Chen Huailong said that the equipment of the facility, where a digital system has been introduced, meets modern standards.

 Chen Huailong noted that the new station provides for the collection and processing of natural gas and gas condensate.  Further, the gas is transported to the gas compressor station of the Bagtyyarlyk contract area, from where it is supplied to the Turkmenistan-China export gas pipeline.

 Speaking to the audience, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov noted that the export of hydrocarbon resources to foreign markets is the strategic goal of Turkmenistan, which ranks fourth in the world in terms of natural gas reserves.  Projects in this area contribute to bringing trade and economic cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and other states to a new level, and the development of interregional relations.

 Speaking about the importance of projects implemented jointly with China, Serdar Berdimuhamedov recalled that China established diplomatic relations with Turkmenistan in the first days of the independence of the Turkmen state, and this year marks 30 years since this momentous event.

 As stated, huge progress has been made in the past in the oil and gas sector with Chinese partners, which has had a positive impact on the economic growth of both countries.

 A vivid example of this is the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline, three branches of which allow exporting 55 billion cubic meters of "blue fuel" per year.

 Since its commissioning at the end of 2009, more than 334 billion cubic meters of natural gas have been supplied from Turkmenistan to China.  In the future, it is planned to build another, fourth branch in order to increase the volume of this required fuel to 65 billion cubic meters per year.

 The new Gadyn gas gathering station will receive 5.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day from the Kishitvan, Gunbatar Kishitvan, Gadyn, Eljik and Gundogar Eljik fields in the Bagtyyarlyk contract area - fields near the right bank  Amu Derya, which is a source of raw materials for the supply of Turkmen gas to China.  Commissioning of the new facility creates 200 new jobs.

 Then, via video link, the President of the country launched the commissioning of the Uchadzhi-Zerger gas pipeline, which is designed to provide natural gas to a gas turbine power plant with a capacity of 432 MW, located in the Chardzhev province, and the population of the Lebap region.