Kazakhstan and China to receive business plan of the pipeline in December 1999

/IRBIS, Nov.25, 99/ - Kazakhstan and China is intended to receive a business plan of the pipeline from Kazakhstan to China in December of 1999, said head of the Ministry for foreign affairs Erlan Idrisov, according to REUTERS. "Business plan of the pipeline from Kazakhstan to China will be presented to governments of two states in December of current year. There are a political understanding and political support of this project", he said. "There were some temporary difficulties due to unfavorable world market conjuncture for hydrocarbons. Therefore, some financial difficulties have emerged, but two sides have agreed to keep working on this project by taking into account new requirements", added the head of the Ministry. He said improvement in oil and gas market conjuncture could have a positive impact on the project. Two years ago an agreement has been signed between two countries on building 3,000 kilometer pipeline and investing $9.5 billion in development of two fields in Western Kazakhstan, and the business plan for this project was to be prepared by Chinese national oil company. The head of the Ministry mentioned the president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev's suggestion concerning "a very prospective project for building a gas pipeline Central Asia - China" on his recent visit to China. "It is necessary. Taking into account the growth of China's demand for natural gas in twenty first century, two sides have agreed to study the project, including growth perspectives in production of gas in both Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan", he said. Turkmenistan is interested in the project and Uzbekistan is willing to cooperate as a transit state, said the head of the Ministry.