BEIJING, July 17: China signed deals on Tuesday to produce and import natural gas from Turkmenistan, a major step in the realignment of the resource-rich central Asian country away from its former rulers in Russia, a news report said.

Details of the deals, signed during a visit to Beijing by Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, were not immediately available, said Dow Jones Newswires.

The report comes amid a flurry of deals by Chinese government oil and gas companies to explore for and develop energy sources in former Soviet republics, Africa and else-where.

China has been in talks to buy 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from Turkmenistan and neighbouring Kazakhstan to be delivered through a new pipeline to feed China’s surging demand for energy.—AP