Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 17
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Russia and Turkmenistan are discussing the possibility of concluding a five-year contract for the purchase of Turkmen gas, Trend reports referring to Russian TASS agency.
“The supplies may be launched starting from the second half of the year,” the news source said. It refers to the statement made by Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Yanovsky on the sidelines of the international conference entitled "Prospects for energy cooperation between Russia and the EU. Gas aspect" in Berlin.
“The negotiations on concluding a medium-term contract for a period of up to five years are under completion/ The sides are discussing the volume of supplies, which will depend on the price of gas,” he said.
“The volumes may reach the levels that were until 2016,” Yanovsky stressed. “The negotiations will end in June.”
Turkmenistan resumed the export of natural gas to Russia on April 15, 2019 after a three-year break. Gazprom company intends to purchase up to 1.155 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Turkmenistan till June 30, 2019.
Turkmenistan transports its gas to Russia via the Central Asia-Center pipeline, built during the Soviet period and monopolized by Gazprom. Until 2009, Gazprom was the biggest buyer of Turkmen gas, purchasing up to 40-42 billion cubic meters a year.
Despite the contractual arrangements, at first the volumes decreased to the level of 10-11 billion cubic meters per year within five years. The annual volume decreased by 2.5 times and amounted to four billion cubic meters in 2015.
Gazprom explained the decrease in the volume of gas purchased from Turkmenistan by a decrease in demand in Europe and Ukraine. The Russian side was not pleased with the price for Turkmen gas set at $240 per 1,000 cubic meters due to the fall in export prices for gas which are constantly connected with falling oil prices.