Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 12
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed at a special meeting of the oil and gas industry that first of all, it is important to ensure supplying gas to the foreign markets in the volumes stipulated by the agreements signed with Russia and Iran, the Turkmen government said on April 11.
"First of all, it is necessary to ensure natural gas extraction for the domestic market and supply to the foreign markets in the volumes stipulated upon the signed contracts," the president said.
The president outlined to continue working with Russia and Iran upon the signed contracts, according to the report.
Russia gets Turkmen gas via the Central Asia - Center pipeline, transited through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Gazprom acts as a buyer. It signed an agreement on gas supplies with Turkmenistan for 25 years in 2003. At this stage, the Central Asia - Center pipeline does not fully operate. Russia temporarily stopped importing Turkmen gas because of the breakdown in April 2009. The technical issues were resolved. Under the influence of the global recession, Russia has reduced purchases to 10-11 billion cubic meters of gas since 2010, which is four times less than earlier.
Gazprom said in September 2013 that it expects for reconsidering the terms as the Turkmen gas purchase price was determined at the peak of European prices rise. Then the price on Gazprom gas sale to Europe has been changed.
Iran gets Turkmen gas via several branches. The Korpeje - Kurt-Kui gas pipeline, commissioned in December 1995, is the main one. Its capacity was brought to eight billion cubic meters per year with the potential of increasing the capacity to 14 billion cubic meters. The Iranian National Gas Export Company is a purchaser of gas.
Translated by NH