Turkmenistan has completed construction on its part of a 7,000-kilometer (4,350-mile) natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China, state media said Friday.
"Work on the Turkmen section of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline... is complete," state newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported.
The pipeline, which will transport Turkmen natural gas from the Caspian Sea across Central Asia to energy-hungry China, is due to begin operations in December, state media has reported.
Turkmenistan, an energy-rich but isolated ex-Soviet nation, is believed to have some of the biggest gas reserves in the world, nearly all of which is currently exported to Russia via a network of ageing Soviet-era pipelines.
A pipeline explosion earlier this year sparked a row with Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) that saw exports of Turkmen natural gas almost completely cut off, prompting Ashgabat to accelerate efforts to secure alternative routes.
China National Petroleum Corp. has signed a 30-year accord to import up to 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year through the new pipeline.
China has signed several major deals to get new energy imports from Central Asia.