Turkmenistan, China reach gas deal

Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov said his country will sign a key agreement next year to sell natural gas to China, with which it would also jointly develop Turkmen gas fields, The AP reported. Under the deal, a gas pipeline, which could carry up to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, would be built to China from eastern Turkmenistan, where the fields planned for joint extraction are located.