Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom says it has agreed to import gas from Turkmenistan until July 2024 as part of a deal with the state-owned Turkmengaz company.
In a statement on its website, Gazprom said it would import up to 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually. The two state companies had previously signed a 2.5-month agreement for 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas that ran until the end of June.
The volumes of natural gas flowing from Turkmenistan to Russia via a Soviet-era pipeline are much lower compared to what they were at the peak in trade between the countries.
Russia used to be the leading importer of Turkmen gas but 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.
Gazprom in 2015 announced it was cutting imports of Turkmen gas from 10 billion cubic meters annually in 2010 to 4 billion.
At the beginning of 2016, it ceased buying Turkmen gas completely because of disagreements about the price.
Turkmenistan's economy is highly dependent on hydrocarbons as a source of hard currency.
