The Bukhara–Tashkent–Bishkek–Almaty pipeline is a Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

's main natural gas export pipeline.

History

Construction of the pipeline started in 1967. In 1968, the pipeline reached to Tashkent, in 1970 to Bishkek (then Frunze) and in 1971 to Almaty.

Description

The diameter of the pipeline is 1020 millimetres (40 in) and the annual capacity of the pipeline is almost 22 billion cubic meter (bcm) of natural gas. The Bukhara–Tashkent–Bishkek–Almaty pipeline is the main source of gas supply for Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

 and southern part of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. It is possible that the pipeline will be connected with the planned Central Asia-China gas pipeline

Central Asia-China gas pipeline

The Central Asia–China gas pipeline is a natural gas pipeline from Central Asia to Xinjiang in the People's Republic of China.-History:...

.

Operators

The Kazakhstan section of pipeline is operated by KazTransGas, a wholly owned subsidiary of KazMunayGas

KazMunayGas

KazMunayGas is the state-owned oil and gas company of Kazakhstan. It was founded in 2002 by merging Kazakhoil and Oil and Gas Transportation.-Subsidiaries:Main subsidiaries of KazMunayGas are:...

. The Kyrgyzstan section of pipe line is operated by KyrKazGas, the joint venture of KazTransGas and Kyrgyzgas.

Future developments

The technical condition of the pipeline is alarming, particularly in Kyrgyzstan. Therefore there are plans for construction of a second trunk gas pipeline and renovation of the existing pipeline.

Further reading

• Chow, Edward, "Central Asia’s Pipelines: Field of Dreams and Reality," in Pipeline Politics in Asia: The Intersection of Demand, Energy Markets, and Supply Routes (National Bureau of Asian Research
  National Bureau of Asian Research
  The National Bureau of Asian Research is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution based in Seattle, Washington, with a branch office in Washington, D.C. The organization’s mission is to inform and strengthen Asia-Pacific policy...
  
  , 2010)