Chinese engineers were working at Turkmenistan's Galkynysh gas field when a new phase of the plant was inaugurated in mid-April, in a ceremony that underlined how tightly the country's energy future is now tied to China. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov stood alongside China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang as dancers performed a routine symbolising the handover of gas from one to another.
Berdymukhamedov said at the inauguration: “Our country regards China as a strategic partner.” The expansion, led by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, is meant to increase production and storage at Galkynysh and allow more exports to China, which already receives around 90 percent of Turkmenistan's gas shipments according to several independent estimates.
The scale of the project matters because Galkynysh is one of the largest gas fields on earth. British energy consultancy Gaffney, Cline and Associates ranks it as the second-largest gas field in the world, while Turkmen officials have described the country's reserves as the fourth largest globally. For a reclusive Central Asian state with few public windows into its economy, gas remains the one sector that defines its foreign policy as much as its revenue.
That dependence on Beijing was not always so complete. Turkmenistan used to export gas exclusively to Russia until 2009, when a diplomatic spat with Moscow accelerated its pivot towards China. That same year the Central Asia-China gas pipeline opened, giving Ashgabat a new route east and eventually carrying around 460 billion cubic metres of natural gas. The pipeline is now the main export corridor, and the new phase at Galkynysh is designed to feed it further.
The country has said it wants to diversify exports towards Europe and the Indian subcontinent, but the numbers show how narrow its options remain. Around 90 percent of gas exports already go to China, and Berdymukhamedov wants to push annual deliveries to 65 bcm. The latest expansion at Galkynysh gives Beijing more leverage over a supply line it already dominates, while leaving Turkmenistan with the same basic problem it has had for years: the reserves are huge, but the market is mostly one customer.
