Russia has further boosted natural gas exports to Turkey to help the country avoid an energy crisis, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said, as a cut in Iranian gas supplies to Turkey continued.

'Gazprom today increased Russian gas supplies to 40 mln cubic metres per day through the Blue Stream pipeline' to Turkey, the state-controlled gas giant said in the statement.

Gazprom said last week it had increased supplies to 38 mln cubic metres per day from the regular 30 mcm per day prior to Dec. 25. to Turkey after Iran announced it would cut supplies to Turkey amid record low winter temperatures in the Islamic republic.

The crisis erupted last month, when Turkmenistan suspended gas supplies to Iran, which in turn cut deliveries to Turkey. Turkey has itself halted the flow of Azeri gas to Greece.

Under a contract signed in 1996, Iran is obliged to ensure daily supplies of 28 million cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey via a 2,500-km pipeline connecting the two countries but Iran has had its own gas supplies from the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan cut because of a bitter payment dispute, depriving households and factories in the north of the country. Turkmenistan blamed technical problems for the suspension of supplies to Iran but Iranian officials say Ashgabat is also seeking a higher price for the natural gas it ships to Iran.

Iran has in the past halted natural gas deliveries to Turkey several times during the winter months, citing increased domestic demand. Turkey has never built domestic fuel storage facilities and always compensated for a shortage of exports from Iran with additional supplies from Russia and other countries

Gazprom, the biggest buyer of Turkmen gas, agreed last year to raise payment for the deliveries by 30 percent in the first half of 2008 to $130 per 1,000 cubic metres and to $150 in the second half of 2008.