Alexei Miller, Gazprom Board Chairman, will lead a Russian delegation to pay a reciprocal visit to Turkmenistan, early January, to sign a gas export/import contract for 2005.
Turkmenistan is suspending gas piping, December 31 into January 7, for Central Asia-Center mainline maintenance works, the statement goes on.
Turkmenistan is rising its gas price for Russia and Ukraine by $16 per thousand cubic meters to make sixty dollars next year, the exporter announced early this month. Turkmen authorities object to current prices as lagging behind average global, with their steady rises. They also bear grudges against prices having increased five- to ten-fold for pipes, other metal articles, chemical reagents and industrial equipment Turkmenistan is importing on clearing arrangements in exchange for natural gas.
Turkmenistan is suspending gas exports to Ukraine tomorrow, December 31, till an appropriate contract is signed for the incoming year as the Parties' experts have not come to this day to an accord on gas prices, the Foreign Ministry press service said to Novosti.
Turkmenistan is willing to negotiate, while Ukraine has been avoiding talks for twenty days now, the ministry pointed out.
The export suspension has no political undercurrent, they reassured.
Turkmenistan is exporting to Ukraine an annual 35 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
