Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 1
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
In the next two years, Russia's Gazprom intends to purchase over 20 billion cubic meters of gas per annum in Central Asia, the Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom Alexey Miller, said at a press conference, Trend reports via the company's website.
The largest supplier of natural gas in Central Asia is Turkmenistan. The country ranks fourth in terms of natural gas reserves.
In 2019 and 2020, we plan to purchase Central Asian gas a little more than 20 billion cubic meters, Miller said.
Earlier, the Russian TASS agency, citing the statement by the Deputy Energy Minister of Russia Anatoly Yanovsky, reported that gas purchases, particularly in Turkmenistan, could reach levels that were until 2016.
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.
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 2.5 times and amounted to four billion cubic meters in 2015.
The Russian company explained that the reduction in the volume of purchases was related to the decreased demand in Europe and Ukraine. Due to the fall in export prices for gas, which are tied to constantly falling oil prices, the established price for Turkmen gas at $240 per 1000 cubic meters has ceased to suit the Russian side.
Turkmenistan transports its gas to Russia via the Central Asia-Center (CAC) pipeline, built in Soviet times and monopolized by Gazprom.