UPDATE 3-Turkmenistan stops gas exports to Iran

(Adds Mehr report, analyst comment, paragraphs 2, 5, 12-15)

By Zahra Hosseinian

TEHRAN, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan has stopped natural gas exports to Iran, causing winter shortages in some parts of its neighbour, Iranian officials said on Monday.

The major Central Asia producer blamed technical problems but some Iranian media reports suggested it had halted deliveries because it wanted to raise the price of gas.

Turkmenistan normally supplies 5 percent of Iran's gas consumption with 20-23 million cubic metres per day, the National Iranian Gas Company said.

Turkmen officials were unavailable for comment on Monday. Turkmen media have said an Iranian delegation visited Ashgabat on Dec 26-27 to discuss gas prices for next year.

"In their comments, some (Iranian) officials have said that Turkmenistan has doubled the price of gas," the semi-official Mehr News Agency said, without quoting any of them by name.

Ebadollah Ghanbari, who heads the public relations unit of the national gas company, said Turkmenistan on Saturday slashed exports to Iran by half to 10 million cubic metres, before stopping deliveries completely a day later.

"In an official letter they said it was due to technical problems," he told state broadcaster IRIB. "Since yesterday evening Turkmenistan has completely cut its gas exports to Iran."