According to the local bureau for Entry and Exit Inspection and Quarantine in Horgos, a major land port in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the natural gas flow from Central Asia to China totaled 3.97 billion cubic meters, or 2.8 million tonnes, by 14 December 2010.

The bureau participates in supervision of the operation of the international gas pipeline.

On 14 December 2009, heads of state for China, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan attended a ceremony at a gas processing plant on the Amu Darya River in Turkmenistan to open the Central-Asia-China natural gas pipeline.

At the beginning of January, the pipeline began to supply gas to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, and from 20 January, gas from Central Asia flowed further eastward, including to Beijing and neighboring areas.

The 1,833-km pipeline starts from the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, traverses through central Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan and enters China at Horgos. It links to China’s second West-East natural gas pipeline.