DUSHANBE, August 14, 2009, Asia-Plus — Uzbekistan has increased natural-gas deliveries to Tajikistan, Shavkat Shoimov, the deputy director of open joint-stock company (OJSC) Tojiktransgaz (Tajik state-controlled natural-gas distributor), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“Since August 12, Uzbekistan has supplied natural gas to the country at the rate of 25,000 cubic meters per hour, while before that, Uztransgaz had supplied gas to Tajikistan at the rate of 15,000 cubic meters per hour,” Shoimov said, noting that 80 percent of Uzbek gas is distributed to central and southern Tajikistan and 20 percent to the Sughd province.
On the Tajikistan gas debt, Shoimov said that Tojiktransgaz now owed more than 15 million in arrears to Uzbekistan. However, he expressed confidence that Tojiktransgaz will repay its debt by the time fixed.
We will recall that Tojiktransgaz head Saidmahmad Sharofiddinov told reporters in Dushanbe on July 21 this year that Tojiktransgaz, is expected to pay off its 16 million US dollars debt to the Uzbek state gas producer, Uztransgaz, until October 1, 2009. According to him, a debt repayment schedule, worked out by specialists from Tojiktransgaz, has been considered and approved by the government.
Sharofiddinov noted that Tajikistan has received 133 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan over the first half-year of 2009. We will recall that the agreement concluded between Tojiktransgaz and Uztransgaz in Uzbekistan on December 31, 2008 covers the import of some 530 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan through 2009.
