On April 15 in Ashgabat, Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller satisfied Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov's demand to switch to all-cash payments for Turkmen gas delivered to Russia. In return for this concession, Turkmenistan seems set to resume the deliveries, which it halted on January 1, 2005,... MORE

Russia has been courting Turkmenistan's authoritarian regime in an apparent attempt to secure its energy interests in the gas-rich Central Asian state. However, the pursuit has been dealt a number of setbacks recently. In the wake of regime change in Kyrgyzstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin... MORE

On March 23, Gazprom officially acknowledged for the first time that Turkmenistan had ceased gas deliveries to Russia on January 1. Gazprom Vice-Chairman Alexander Ryazanov confirmed to Moscow journalists that the company rejects Ashgabat's demand for a price increase, from $44 to $58 per 1,000... MORE

With almost no public notice, Turkmenistan has virtually ceased deliveries of gas to Russia since January 1 due to disagreement over the price (Vremya novosti, February 9). Gazprom did not acknowledge the problem publicly until yesterday (February 10). The company's chairman, Alexei Miller, held talks... MORE

Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov, having traditionally maintained neutrality for his country in its international relations, has now made strengthening the armed forces one of Turkmenistan's top priorities. Such efforts to raise the overall standards in the military and enhance Turkmenistan's defense capacity come at a... MORE

Gas output data for 2004, just released by the three Central Asian producer countries, illustrate the region's underutilized potential as a supplier to the West, the absence of a Western strategy in this regard, and Russia's unchecked tendency to monopolize the marketing of Central Asian... MORE

On January 10, Turkmenistan resumed deliveries of natural gas to Russia after a ten-day suspension. The Turkmennebit [Turkmenneftegaz] company had closed the valves on the Russia-bound export pipeline at midnight on December 31-January 1 ostensibly for "repair and maintenance work," following several public demands by... MORE

On November 15-18, Ashgabat hosted concurrently two international oil and gas exhibitions and conferences: a bilateral event on "Turkmenistan-Russia Oil and Gas Partnership Prospects," and an international one on "Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan 2004." The two events illustrated Russia's head start over Western consumer... MORE

Turkmenistan's official foreign policy of "positive neutrality" is facing new challenges as Russia continues the drive for greater influence over Central Asian affairs. The Turkmen policy of neutrality, announced by President Saparmurat Niyazov shortly after the country became independent in 1991, has successfully enabled the... MORE

President Saparmurat Niyazov is favorably considering proposals to change Turkmenistan's gas-export strategy by reducing reliance on pipelines for delivering natural gas, shifting to other transport methods, and maximizing the processing of gas in Turkmenistan for export of value-added products. Niyazov discussed these plans on September... MORE