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Turkmenistan's gas output slides


Wire services

Central Asia's top natural gas exporter Turkmenistan has cut its gas production in the first quarter of this year, state media reported today.

The country had said it would boost output this year to 81.5 billion cubic metres from last year's 72.3 billion cubic metres, but the first quarter brought no increase, state-owned Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper said, citing the Finance Ministry.

"It was noted in a (finance ministry) report that a decrease in gas output due to seasonal factors of the winter period had virtually no effect on the industrial output growth rate," the paper wrote. It did not give any figures, Reuters said in a report.

Rising prices compensated for the fall, it said.

Russia's Gazprom, currently the only buyer of Turkmen gas, agreed last year to pay $130 per thousand cubic metres in the first half of this year and $160 per Mcm in the second. Last year Gazprom bought Turkmen gas at $100 per Mcm.

Turkmenistan exports about 50 billion cubic metres of gas annually. Starting from next year, it plans to bring its price up to the level at which Gazprom resells its gas to Europe.

President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, at a government meeting yesterday, reiterated his intention to raise prices.

"Global commodity and fuel prices remain high and the demand for Turkmen energy is constantly growing," state news agency Turkmen Khabarlary quoted him as saying today.

"Turkmenistan will base its pricing policy on these benign market conditions."


Tuesday, 15 April, 2008, 07:22 GMT  | last updated: Tuesday, 15 April, 2008, 08:19 GMT

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