TURKMENISTAN: MEDVEDEV VISIT MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
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9/14/09
Turkmenistan will resume gas exports to Russia but a firm date
has yet to be decided. In other words, not much has changed in the
Turkmen-Russian natural gas row.
Technical issues arising out of an explosion on a key gas
export pipeline in April have been resolved, President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhamedov said following his September 13 meeting with Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev in Ashgabat. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive].
But questions about export volumes and the purchase price remain up
in the air. "We anticipate that over the coming weeks Gazprom and
the relevant Turkmen organizations will coordinate parameters for
continued cooperation. Experts will agree on specific parameters and
volumes," Russian newspapers quoted Medvedev’s aide, Sergei Prikhodko,
as saying on September 14.
Just about the only positive movement in the Russian-Turkmen energy
relationship was the news that Itera, a Russian energy giant, signed
a production-sharing agreement with the Turkmen government to develop
Block 21 in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.