TURKMENBASHI, September 13 (RIA Novosti) - Turkmenistan will resume natural gas supplies to Russian energy giant Gazprom, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said after talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday.
The problem with Turkmen gas deliveries began in early April, when a blast and ensuing fire caused Turkmengaz, the country's state-run gas company, to suspend supplies to Russia.
Turkmenistan earlier accused Russia of failing to warn Ashgabat that it was reducing gas imports, resulting in a buildup of pipeline pressure that caused the blast while experts attributed the significant reduction in Turkmen gas imported by Gazprom to a drop in demand from European consumers amid the global economic crisis.
Berdymukhammedov said that all the issues related to the resumption of Turkmen gas supplies to Russia had been resolved, adding that Gazprom would buy natural gas from Turkmenistan according to a specific formula as the Russian energy giant considered the current gas price too high in the current conditions.
Russia is one of the largest importers of Turkmen gas. In 2008, Turkmenistan exported over 47 billion cubic meters of natural gas out of the total of 70.5 billion cubic meters produced in the Central Asian republic.
Meanwhile, Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko said that Gazprom's contacts with Turkmen companies for the supply of Turkmen gas to Russia would be continued in coming weeks.
"Cooperation with Turkmenistan in the gas sphere has never stopped, and the technical problems linked with the considerable wear of the pipeline network have actually been resolved," Prikhodko said.
