Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)
December 11, 2006 -- A deputy head of Russia's Gazprom gas monopoly, Valery Golubev, today held talks with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat.
Turkmenistan's official TDH news agency reports the two men examined plans to jointly explore and develop hydrocarbon fields.
They also discussed a project to build a new gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea shore.
Russia recently agreed to buy 162 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas by 2010 at a price of $100 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Also today, Niyazov held talks with Vadim Chuprun, Ukraine's first deputy fuel and energy minister, and Eduard Rossel, the governor of Sverdlovsk, an industrial region of Russia.
TDH reports both visitors assured Niyazov of their willingness to cooperate "fully" with Turkmenistan.
(TDH)