ASHGABAT (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday asked Turkmenistan, Central Asia’s biggest producer of natural gas, to join a proposed global cartel of gas suppliers.
“Have you joined the gas OPEC?” Chavez asked Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov at a meeting in the Turkmen capital.
When Berdymukhamedov replied that Turkmenistan had not, Chavez said: “Please join.”
Ex-Soviet Turkmenistan used to sell most of its gas to Russia until an April row when Moscow demanded a review of supply terms.
Ashgabat, which also has a deal with Iran, plans to start pumping gas to China at the end of this year.
