On August 29, the commencement ceremony for the joint natural gas exploration and development project by CNPC and Turkmenistan was hold in the site of the Amu Darya Right Bank Gasfield.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov hosted the ceremony and made an address. Mr. Chen Deming, Vice Chairman of National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) presented at the ceremony and gave a speech. The license for the exploration and development of the joint block at Amu Darya Right Bank in Turkmenistan was issued by President Berdymuhammedov to CNPC at the ceremony.

In April 2006, CNPC and the Petroleum Ministry of Turkmenistan reached a basic agreement on the cooperative natural gas project. In July, with the witness of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Turkoman President Berdimuhammedow, CNPC signed the product share contract on the Bagtyiarlyk area at Amu Darya Right Bank in Turkmenistan and the Sino-Turkmenistan natural gas purchase and sale agreement with Turkmenistan Petroleum Resource Management and Utilization Bureau and Turkmenistan Natural Gas Konzern respectively.

According to these agreements, the jointly built natural gas pipeline by the two countries will start at the bank of Amu Darya, the largest river in Central Asia, and reach to Central, East and South China via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, traveling a distance of about 10,000 kilometers. After being completed, Turkmenistan will deliver 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China every year for 30 years.