Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov held talks Sunday with visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Turkmenbashi, western Turkmenistan, to discuss bilateral cooperation on gas, news reaching here from Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan, said.

Berdymukhamedov said after the talks that all technical problems surrounding a gas pipeline connecting Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan had been resolved, and a price formula would be applied to gas exports to Russia in the future.

Turkmenistan shut off gas supply to Russia after an explosion in the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan border section of the gas pipeline in April.

Turkmenistan earlier blamed Russia for causing the accident by abruptly lowering the amount of Turkmen gas without a notice in advance, saying that Russia's acts, which breached their agreements on gas supply, were imprudent and irresponsible.

The two leaders did not talk about the exact time for resuming gas supply, said a Russian official.

Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom will negotiate with the Turkmen side on the issue in a few weeks, the official added.

Russia buys huge volume of gas each year from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In May 2007, the four countries announced a decision to upgrade the current pipeline and to build a new one along the Caspian Sea.

Upon completion, the new pipeline will be the largest gas delivery system in Central Asia.

Source: Xinhua

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-09/14/content_342002.htm