Kazakh and Chinese energy officials Wednesday launched the construction of a gas pipeline that will deliver Central Asian gas to China.
Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sauat Mynbayev said the pipeline - part of a 7,000 kilometer-long system being built in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - would stretch from Kazakhstan's Uzbek border to its Chinese border.
The pipeline will ship up to 30 billion cubic meters of Turkmen natural gas a year to China, construction company KazStroyService said in a statement.
Mynbayev said the transit system would also allow Kazakhstan to receive 10 billion cubic meters of gas to supply its southern regions bordering Uzbekistan.
He said the final stage of construction should be finished by 2012.
KazStroyService said in a statement that shipment of gas to China was planned to start in June 2010 at initial capacity of 4.5 billion cubic meters a year. The pipeline will reach full capacity of 40 billion cubic meters by the end of 2013.
Mynbayev told reporters Kazakhstan hasn't decided on transit fees yet.
The construction will contribute to Central Asian nations' attempts to diversify energy export routes that currently go mainly through Russia.