Russia's Gazprom resumes imports of Turkmen gas: Turkmenistan

Russia's Gazprom has resumed imports of gas from Turkmenistan that it stopped three years ago, according to Turkmenistan's state energy company Turkmengaz.

Turkmengaz said in a statement on its website on April 15 that gas deliveries had resumed "after a commercial pause, initiated by Gazprom in early 2016."

Turkmengaz made no mention of the volumes the company would export to Russia or the value of the new deal.

Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller had said that deliveries would resume at the beginning of the year during a trip to Turkmenistan for talks over the contract in October.

Russia was once the leading importer of Turkmen gas until it was displaced by China around the beginning of the decade.

Relatively cheap imports of gas from Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries enabled Russia to boost its exports to Europe.

In 2015, Gazprom announced plans to cut imports of Turkmen gas to four billion cubic metres (bcm) per year, down from 10 bcm in 2010.

The move was followed by a complete cessation of purchases announced at the beginning of 2016, adding to the pressure on Turkmenistan's economy which is highly dependent on hydrocarbons as a source of hard currency.