Caspian gas pipeline project to start by mid-2008: Russia PM

Moscow, June 1 (UNI) Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov today said the construction of a rival gas pipeline to ship Central Asian gas along the Caspian Sea coast and through Russia would start in the second half of 2008.

The date for the project, opposed to the US-sponsored pipeline across the inland sea, bypassing Russia, would be stipulated in a deal between Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to be drafted by September 1, Fradkov told journalists here after his talks with his Kazakh counterpart Karim Masimov.

''We have given instructions in line with presidential accords. By September 1, we have to draft an inter-governmental agreement on the construction of a gas pipeline and the reconstruction of the existing pipeline system, with the latter project to include Uzbekistan,'' he said.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Turkmen President Gurbaguly Berdymukhammedov reached agreement to build a pipeline from Turkmenistan along Kazakhstan's Caspian coast and on to Russia, the sole re-exporter of Turkmen gas.

They also promised to sign an agreement on the construction of pipeline in September.

Mr Putin said earlier the restoration of Soviet-era pipelines going to Russia via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan would make it possible to boost gas transit by at least 12 billion cubic meters by 2012.

Despite the agreement on the Caspian pipeline, Berdymukhammedov said the Caspian project bypassing Russia remained on the agenda, as it provided a means of diversifying gas supplies.

UNI