Russia, Turkmenistan put off gas agreement

MOSCOW, March 26 (UPI) -- Russia and Turkmenistan postponed signing agreements on a $1 billion natural gas pipeline during a meeting on Moscow on bilateral relations.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in Moscow, offering praises of the cooperative relationship between both countries.

Aides to the Russian president said both sides discussed the importance of the regional natural gas sector, but talks on a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan were put off for later meetings, The Moscow Times reports.

Turkmenistan in February expressed its intent to expand the regional transit infrastructure to strengthen its position as a major energy hub.

Trade between Russia and Turkmenistan reached $6.9 billion in 2008, with $6 billion coming from the gas sector.

Natural gas accounts for the majority of the exports from Turkmenistan. It is tied with Kazakhstan for 11th place in terms of world gas volumes with about 100 trillion cubic feet in reserves.

Apart from energy, both sides talked about transportation links between the two countries, telecommunications and agricultural summits in St. Petersburg and Ashgabat later in the year.