Turkmenistan resumed on Saturday natural gas supplies to Russia under a deal the parties signed in December to end a months-long dispute, a spokesman for Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said.

The ex-Soviet nation had been exporting some 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Gazprom until an explosion at a Turkmen pipeline leg in April 2009. Ashgabat accused Gazprom of failing to warn that it was reducing gas imports, resulting in a buildup of pipeline pressure that caused the blast.

"Gazprom started receiving Turkmen gas at 10:35 a.m. Moscow time (07:35 GMT) today," the spokesman said.

Gazprom and its Turkmen counterpart Turkmengaz signed the deal to resume supplies on the sidelines of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the Turkmen capital on December 22.

According to unofficial sources, Turkmenistan will sell 1,000 cubic meters of its gas to Gazprom, its sole export channel so far, at $240-$250 on average in 2010. Gazprom paid $140 for 1,000 cubic meters of Turkmen gas in 2008, and agreed to switch to European prices from January 1, 2009.

Turkmenistan, Central Asia's largest gas supplier, produces some 80 bcm of gas annually.

In December, Turkmenistan and China unveiled a gas pipeline to run via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan bypassing Russia. Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are to supply 30 billion cu m of gas to China annually.

MOSCOW, January 9 (RIA Novosti)