DUSHANBE, December 29, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan has reached an agreement with Uzbekistan on the price for natural-gas imports for 2008.
Fathiddin Muhsiddinov, director general of Tojikgaz (Tajikistan’s state-run natural-gas distributor), confirmed this and said that an agreement has been concluded with Uzbekistan’s state gas producer, Uztransgaz, in Tashkent this week. According to him, the agreement sets the price gas for Tajik gas imports at $145 per 1,000 cubic meters.
The sides have reached an agreement on the volume of natural gas to be imported from Uzbekistan in 2008. “Next year, Tajikistan is planning to import 650 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan,” the Tojikgaz head, noting that last year Tajikistan imported 630 million cubic meters of Uzbek gas.
According to some source, the agreement requires Tajikistan to pay in full for the gas imports from Uzbekistan in advance, following past problems with mounting arrears.
We will recall that the first Tajik-Uzbek negotiations over the gas price broke down on December 11, after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the price of Tajik gas imports. 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.
Rising price for Uzbek gas will inevitably lead to increase in domestic prices of natural gas in Tajikistan. According to the Tojikgaz head, they now supply natural gas to the public at the rate of 473 somonis per 1,000 cubic meters and to industrial enterprises at the rate of 565 somonis.
