Natural gas may be flowing again from Turkmenistan to Russia, but the two countries’ pricing dispute is not over, analysts are predicting.
Turkmen gas exports to Russia resumed January 9 after a nearly nine-month hiatus, due to a pricing dispute. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/news/articles/eav060209b.shtml Under the Turkmen-Russian settlement, the Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom will only buy 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually compared to 50 bcm in previous years, and will pay in the region of $250 per thousand cubic meters (tcm), Russian news sources reported.
The interruption in gas supplies caused serious damage to Turkmenistan’s state finances. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In 2009, Turkmen gas production fell to 38 bcm from 70.5 bcm during the previous year, the Russian daily Kommersant reported on January 11. As a result, Turkmenistan lost "not less than a quarter of its annual Gross Domestic Product, between $7 billion and $10 billion," Michael Korchemkin, the director of the East European Gas Analysis, told Kommersant.
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