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Turkmen President in China
President of Turkmenistan Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov completed his official visit to China yesterday. Beijing and Ashgabat concluded an agreement on a direct gas pipeline that will bypass Russia and signed a contract on natural gas deliveries to China worth billions of dollars. That contract alarmed Gazprom, since Berdymukhamedov had promised Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov in Jnaury of this year that it would have preferential gas import rights through 2028. In May, the presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to build the Prikaspiisky gas pipeline.
Under an agreement signed between Russia and Turkmenistan in 2003, Russia is to receive 70-90 billion cu. m. of Turkmen gas per year from 2009 to 2028. Turkmenistan now produces about 70 billion cu. m. of gas per year. Of that, 42 billion cu. m. is provided to Russia, 8 billion cu. m. to Iran and 7-15 billion cu. m. is consumed domestically. Adding deliveries to China could interfere with the country's agreement with Russia.
China signed a contract with Turkmenistan to supply 30 billion cu. m. of gas per year for 30 years beginning in 2009. an agreement was also signed on product sharing at the Bagtyyarlyk deposit, which will be the base for the Central Asia pipeline. China will also provide Ashgabat with an easy credit for the purchase of Chinese drilling equipment.
Berdymukhamedov assured the Chinese that there was enough gas in Turkmenistan to supply them and Gazprom both. He stated that new deposits have just been discovered. Nonetheless, the presence of two pipelines in the country will give Turkmenistan an advantage when negotiating prices with Gazprom.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 19, 2007
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