President: Ukraine interested in resumption of natural gas supply from Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 13 Feb. / Trend H. Hasanov / Ukraine is interested in the resumption of supply of Turkmen natural gas, President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych said after the talks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in Ashgabat. "I have confirmed Ukraine's interest in the resumption of supply of natural gas from Turkmenistan and willingness to deepen cooperation in this field," the Ukrainian leader said at the briefing. Yanukovych is in Turkmenistan on a three day state visit (February 12-14). According to him, the two countries are well placed to join efforts in order to study alternative routes of gas supplies for meeting its own needs and exports to Europe. The primary interest of Ukraine in Turkmenistan is about its global reserves of natural gas, which according to Kiev may reach the Ukrainian market not through re-exports, but directly and on more favorable terms. The CAC pipeline, which runs through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan became the monopoly of the Russian Gazprom after the collapse of the USSR. In recent years, Russia has preferred to re-export Turkmen gas, including for meeting needs of Ukraine. As of 2010, under the influence of the global recession Russia reduced purchases from Turkmenistan to 10 bcm of gas, which is four times less than in the previous years. Kiev urged his opponents in Moscow that the agreement on CIS free trade zone contains an item that provides for equal access to transmission facilities of the CIS countries. Ashgabat, which supplies gas to China, Iran and Russia, is interested in new markets, including the early supply of its energy to Europe, including Ukraine. Ashgabat has announced the surplus of marketable gas that may be acquired at the border, including the Turkmen-Uzbek, by any potential customer. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az