DUSHANBE, February 12, Asia-Plus — Because of unusual cold weather and severe electricity shortages people in Tajikistan are forced to use natural gas not only for cooking but also for heating their apartments that leads to decline in pressure in gas pipelines, according to Tajik state natural-gas distributor Tojikgaz.
The source at Tojikgaz noted that under the signed contract Tajikistan now imports natural gas from Uzbekistan at the rate of 2.4 million cubic meters per day.
“We have signed the contract proceedings from the fact that gas will be used only for cooking but not for heating houses,” the source said, adding that the supply of Uzbek gas has increased from 60,000 cubic meters per hour on February 1 to 80,000 cubic meters per hour.
“It has become possible due to the fact that Tojikgaz has paid off its roughly $7 million debt to Uzbekistan.
We will recall that Uzbekistan in late January cut natural-gas shipments to Tajikistan by one-third due to the roughly $7 million in arrears that Tojikgaz owes to Uzbekistan.
Since the beginning of the year, Uzbekistan has supplied more than 95 million cubic meters of gas to Tajikistan. This year, Tajikistan plans to import 650 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan.
In the meantime, the public debts for gas consumption have to date exceeded 140 million somonis. State-owned enterprises now owe more than 15 million somonis to Tojikgaz and federally funded organizations owe some 1 million somonis.
