DUSHANBE, December 26, Asia-Plus — Tom managers of Tojikgaz (Tajikistan’s state natural-gas-distributor) have gone to Tashkent to negotiate with Uzbek gas authorities over the price of Tajik gas imports.
According to Tojikgaz, the delegation led by the Tojikgaz director general Fathiddin Muhsiddinov went to Tashkent on December 25. “They will try to persuade Uzbek authorities to set acceptable price for Tajik gas imports,” the Tojikgaz source said. However, he declined to disclose the price at which Tajikistan would be ready to buy Uzbek gas, noting that everything will be clear after negotiations.
As it had been reported earlier, several days of negotiations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in Tashkent over the price of natural gas broke down on December 11 after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the price of Tajik gas imports.
The talks in Tashkent were held by officials from Tojikgaz company and Uzbekistan”s state-run Uzbektransgaz group. The talks broke down over Uzbekistan”s demand to raise prices for Tajik gas imports from the current level of $100 to $180 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Tajikistan is planning to import 950 million cubic meters natural gas from Uzbekistan in 2008.
This year, Tajikistan has purchased 650 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan. At present, Tajikistan is receiving Uzbek gas at the rate of some 3 million cubic meters per day.
