DUSHANBE, January 3, 2009, Asia-Plus — Director general of Tajik state natural-gas distributor, Tojikgaz, Fathiddin Muhsiddinov, confirmed on January 1 2009 that Tajikistan has reached a new agreement on the price of natural gas imported form Uzbekistan.
According to him, the agreement, concluded with officials from Uztransgaz, the state gas producer in Uzbekistan, sets the price of gas imports at $240 per 1,000 cubic meters, a 65.5 percent increase over the current price, and covers the import of some 530 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan through 2009.
We will recall that during negotiations in Tashkent in early December 2008, senior officials from Tojikgaz proposed the Uzbek side to keep the price set for 2008 – $145 per 1,000 cubic meters, but Uztransgaz refused. That time, Uztransgaz set the price of natural-gas supplies for Tajikistan at $300 per 1,000 cubic meters, more than 100 percent increase over the 2008 price. This price did not suit the Tajik side and Tojikgaz continued gas price decrease negotiations in late December and the sides agreed on the price of $240 per 1,000 cubic meters.
