TURKMENBASHI, May 12: The leaders of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed on Saturday to build a new natural gas pipeline around the Caspian Sea, a move that maintains Russia's dominant role as regional gas broker.

Few details about the pipeline were given but the deal, the centrepiece of a six-day trip to Central Asia by Russian President Vladimir Putin, appears to be a blow to US, European and Chinese hopes of gaining direct access to Turkmen gas.

Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko confirmed the new pipeline along the Caspian coast would flow to Russia.

“Existing pipelines and those which are planned are more than enough to meet the growing requirements of the regional market,” he told reporters in the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi, where the leaders met.

The three former Soviet states issued joint declarations saying they would sign a treaty by September on building the new pipeline and would work with Uzbekistan to improve existing Soviet-era gas export infrastructure.

New gas finds in Turkmenistan and a new leader in President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov had raised the possibility of the country, the largest gas producer in Central Asia, seeking new export routes.

The United States, Europe and China would like direct access to Turkmen gas, most of which flows to Russia at below-market prices. The new pipeline is a blow to US-backed plans for a trans-Caspian pipeline that would bypass Russian territory.

A copy of the two declarations said: “the governments of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan should ensure the realisation of the project ... starting from the second half of 2008”.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said ahead of the signing: “This is a purely pragmatic commercial project... There is no politics there.”—Reuters