The Interfax Central Asia General Newswire reports that Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov announced on Thursday that he intends to seal a large contract for gas supply with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. In an announcement on state Turkmen television Niyazov remarked that

“Over the next few days a Russian delegation will arrive in Turkmenistan to sign a contract for the second half for supplies of Turkmen natural gas … I think that we will agree on price and on volume and will sign an agreement with them. This will be a large contract.”

Niyazov attributed his decision to pursue contractual talks with Moscow to Russia’s physical ability to purchase the amount of gas that his country can sell. In recognition of the scale of Russia’s importance, Niyazov reminded viewers of an already established agreement for 2006, which envisages the transportation of 30 billion cubic metres of gas at $65 per 1,000 cubic metres.
The announcement will be received with some concern in Ukraine, which has not had Turkmen gas delivered to it since the start of 2006. Kiev had formerly signed an agreement with Ashgabat, which promised to supply Ukraine with 40 billion cubic metres of gas in 2006 at $50 per 1,000 cubic metres. Indeed, Ukraine’s current compromise agreement on gas prices with Russia hinges largely upon the factor of Turkmen gas, so the prospect of a Moscow grab of this generous slice of Central Asian resources will almost certainly come to haunt Kiev.
An admission of the importance of gas deal also came on Thursday from Ukrainian Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov, who suggested that his government should step up talks with the Central Asian country for the supply of natural gas from January to March 2007, according to a report on Eastbusiness.org. The next few days, as Turkmenistan’s position stands to be formalised, may be a telling moment in the fate of Ukraine’s future tussles with Russia.