Pipeliners

May 29, 2009 (RIA Novosti) - PARIS, Turkmenistan has been forced to halt gas production at 195 wells following an accident along a stretch of pipeline leading to Russia, a Turkmen expert said on Friday. The problem with Turkmen gas deliveries began in early April, when a blast and ensuing fire caused Turkmengaz, the country's state-run gas company, to suspend supplies to Russia. Odek Odekov, director of the geological institute at the state oil and gas exploration corporation Turkmengeologiya, said that repairs had already been carried out to the pipeline, which was ready to pump gas, adding that the resumption in supplies was subject to commercial negotiations. "If the parties come to terms, we won't file a suit with an international arbitration tribunal. The parties are currently unable to agree who is at fault," he said. Turkmenistan earlier accused Russia of failing to warn Ashgabat that it was reducing gas imports, resulting in a buildup of pipeline pressure that caused the blast. In turn, Dovlet Atabayev, head of the European office of the state agency for hydrocarbon resources management and use under the Turkmen president, said that a working group had been set up to look into the reasons for the accident. "This is a purely commercial issue between the parties and there is no political context to it. The experts have to find the cause," he said. Odekov said that some gas was still flowing into Russia but declined to specify the volume. He added that the agreement contained a force majeure provision but any reduction in gas supplies required each side to notify the other three days in advance. However, the Russian side gave Turkmenistan just one day advance notice, in effect creating a vacuum bomb, he said. Experts earlier attributed the significant reduction in gas imported by Russian energy giant Gazprom from Turkmenistan to a drop in demand from European consumers amid the ongoing global economic crisis. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in mid-May that the issue of resuming supplies depended on the Turkmen side.