DUSHANBE, March 12, Asia-Plus — The national energy companies of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan will export their natural gas at European-level prices starting from 2009, Russia”s gas monopoly, Gazprom, said yesterday, referring to officials from those companies.
According to Gazprom, guided by their national economic interests and taking into account international commitments to ensure uninterrupted energy supplies, natural gas will be sold at European-level prices starting from 2009. Gazprom buys Central Asian gas at lower prices than it sells to Europe. The planned increase therefore promises an according price rise for European consumers.
Earlier on Tuesday, Miller met with the chiefs of Kazakhstan”s KazMunaiGaz, Uzbekistan”s Uzbekneftegaz, and Turkmenistan’s Turkmengaz in Moscow to discuss future cooperation. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said earlier, citing expert estimates, that the average gas price for Europe could grow to $360 per 1,000 cubic meters by the end of 2008.
In the meantime, according to Shavat Shoimov, the deputy head of Tojikgaz (Tajikistan’s state natural-gas distributor), Uzbekistan, which is the main supplier of natural gas to Tajikistan, has not yet notified Tajikistan of the planned increase in gas prices.
We will recall that Tajikistan reached an agreement with Uzbekistan on the price for natural-gas imports for 2008 last December. The agreement sets the price gas for Tajik gas imports at $145 per 1,000 cubic meters. The sides also reached an agreement on the volume of natural gas to be imported from Uzbekistan in 2008. This year, Tajikistan is planning to import 650 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan. 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.
