### Turkmenistan-China-Japan

One option for Turkmen gas export is a route through China. This would be a longer-term and more expensive option than an Iranian or trans-Caspian route. The proposed pipeline would run from various reservoirs in East Turkmenistan, through southern Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, into China and then Japan, for a combined length of 8,037 km and capacity of 30 bcm per year. The estimated cost of this project is US $10 billion. Both politics and economics militate against a Far East pipeline anytime soon. Aside from the high cost, involving so many transit countries would raise many complicated legal and political issues.

All in all, a pipeline from Turkmenistan to China and then to Japan, while feasible, is more likely to be a long run possibility than an immediate solution.

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