Speaking on national television KazMunaiGaz President Uzakbai Karabalin said, “One possibility would be moving Turkmen and Uzbek gas via the line that now exists in southern Kazakhstan to Almaty. Extending this line [from Almaty] to the border with China does not involve great technical difficulty. And this would be one variant where it would be possible to transport gas [to China] fairly rapidly.”
“KazMunaiGaz is also looking at shipping Kazakh gas from {Kazakhstan’s] western oil and gas region to Chimkent and then using the above-mentioned route.
“There is yet another variant that specialists are now considering. That is the building of a gas pipeline from Russia, from Omsk to the south via Astana with an outlet to the Chinese border. With this, we presuppose the possibility of exchange operations,” added Karabalin.
