In 2010, China saved the Turkmen government by giving it a $5 billion loan, in addition to its investments of over $10 billion in the Turkmen economy over the past few years. Beijing's motives were clear: it wanted Turkmenistan's natural gas. The Central Asia-China pipeline, which carries Turkmen natural gas across Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China, was inaugurated in 2010 . However, it only exported about 3.55 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2011 — even though the pipeline has a carrying capacity of 40 bcm — due to the significant amount of time and resources it took to get natural gas production back up and running after the 2009 cutoff and to a series of pricing disputes with Beijing. In 2012, Turkmenistan's natural gas exports to China could reach 19-25 bcm, contributing to the growing Turkmen economy.