Pipeliners

ASHGABAT, December 18 (RIA Novosti) - A tripartite agreement between Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia on the construction of the Caspian gas pipeline will be signed in Moscow December 20, the Turkmen president's press service said Tuesday. The agreement was reached during talks between President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko. The pipeline from Turkmenistan, to run along Kazakhstan's Caspian coastline to Russia, is designed to pump 10-20 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe via Russia's pipeline network, and is a rival project to a Western-backed trans-Caspian pipeline bypassing Russia. Turkmenistan, the second largest gas producer after Russia among ex-Soviet states, exports gas via a Russian-controlled network of pipelines.