Russian Gazprom plans to review terms for purchase of Turkmen gas

  26 September 2013    Read: 656
Russian Gazprom plans to review terms for purchase of Turkmen gas
Russian company Gazprom plans to review the terms for the purchase of gas in Turkmenistan, Russian media outlets quoted the Deputy Chairman of the company`s Management Board Valery Golubev as saying.
"Russian company insists on the revision of the terms of purchase of [Turkmen] gas," the report of the Interfax agency quoted Golubev, who previously said that "the purchase price formula of Turkmen gas was determined at the peak of the rise of European prices, and then the formula for selling Gazprom`s gas in Europe also underwent changes".

The report said that, at the same time Turkmen partners refuse to revise the formula, because according to the terms of the contract, Gazprom can not reduce purchases below 11 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

"Gazprom`s price is better than the price which China pays for Turkmen gas," the representative of Gazprom said.

Commenting on the reduction of deliveries of Uzbek gas to Russia, Golubev said that this is due to the growth of domestic consumption and decrease of production from old fields of Uzbekistan.

Turkmenistan will transport its gas to Russia through the Central Asia-Centre (CAC) gas pipeline (Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-Russia), which was commissioned in the late 60s. The pipeline has a capacity up to 80 billion cubic meters per year. Over time, the capacity of the pipeline will be reduced to 40-50 billion cubic meters a year, and now it requires reconstruction.

At the moment, the CAC does not operate at full capacity. Russia suspended imports of Turkmen gas in April 2009 because of an accident. Technical issues have been solved, but under the influence of the global recession Russia has reduced the purchases to 10-11 billion cubic meters of gas from 2010, which is four times less than in 2008.

Last year, the opportunity appeared for supplying Russia with raw products not only from the eastern fields of Turkmenistan, but also from the west, thanks to the construction of the connecting line from the coast of the Caspian Sea, where the Malaysian Petronas can proceed with industrial production of gas at the offshore block.

Earlier it was reported that the dates of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Turkmenistan are being coordinated through diplomatic channels. It is expected that the issue of gas cooperation will be crucial during the upcoming visit.

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