Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 13
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
Gazprom Export LLC (100-percent subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom company) doesn't pay the remaining money for the actually delivered Turkmen natural gas, without explaining the reason, Turkmenistan's Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources said July 13.
"It is not clear for Turkmen side why Russia's energy giant doesn't fully pay for the received gas," said the ministry, adding that apparently, the company is undergoing hard times financially.
Russia's Gazprom JSC neglects its contract obligations, said Turkmenistan's ministry.
Gazprom was the largest purchaser of Turkmenistan's natural gas (up to 42 billion cubic meters) till 2009.
At the time, Gazprom had a desire to buy Turkmen gas, since it was receiving this gas at low prices and got great dividends from reselling it to CIS and European countries. Gradually, starting from 2009, Turkmenistan also started to sell natural gas at lower prices.
However, in April 2009, Gazprom Export LLC sharply reduced the purchase of Turkmen natural gas which led to the explosion of the pipeline, according to Ashgabat. The supply of Turkmen gas was suspended till early 2010.
Despite the contracted annual volumes of 70-80 billion cubic meters, firstly, the volumes were decreased to 10-11 billion cubic meters per year throughout 5 years. The annual volumes dropped by 2.5 times in 2015 and stood at 4 billion cubic meters.
This is while Turkmengaz state concern for its part consistently fulfills its contract obligations by regularly supplying the agreed volumes of Turkmen natural gas, said the Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources.
However, it suffers huge losses due to the created infrastructure and production facilities for ensuring the contracted volumes, according to the ministry.
Edited by SI