Turkmenistan to launch Russia gas pipeline in 2010

ASHGABAT, July 15 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan is ready to start building a Moscow-backed Caspian Sea gas pipeline soon to ensure its launch in March 2010, official media reported on Tuesday.

Russia agreed with Turkmenistan and two other Central Asian nations in 2007 to construct a new pipeline allowing Moscow to keep Central Asian gas flows under its control.

The Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper, which conveys the state line, said the gas-rich nation was ready to press on with the project.

"The new pipeline, expected to come on stream in late March 2010, will follow the Caspian Sea coastal line, like the existing one," it said, referring to Turkmenistan's main pipeline controlled by Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM).

The newspaper said that Turkmenistan has already mapped out details of the pipeline's route and other technicalities.

The new Russia-sponsored link is expected to take in up to 10 bcm of Turkmen gas and the same volume of Kazakh supplies.

Gazprom buys about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year -- the bulk of the country's output. But Turkmenistan, which plans to boost output in the future, is considering alternative export routes for additional volumes.

The rival Nabucco project, supported by the West but criticised as unfeasible by Russia, aims to connect Caspian Sea gas deposits with European markets while bypassing Russia.

Turkmenistan, which is also building a pipeline to China, has not explicitly said it wanted to be part of Nabucco.

(Reporting by Marat Gurt; Writing by Maria Golovnina)