DUSHANBE, April 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan has raised the Uzbek natural gas supply prices for all categories of consumers by nearly 9.8 percent.
The source at open joint-stock company (OJSC) Tajiktransgaz (Tajik state natural-gas distributor) said the new prices came into effect on April 1. “The Uzbek gas supply prices have been raised following devaluation of the national currency – the somoni – against the dollar,” the source said.
Current prices of 1,000 cubic meters of the Uzbek natural are more than 1,164 somoni residential customers and more than 1,079 somoni for large enterprises.
We will recall that the previous gas supply price for residential customers set on January 1, 2009 was some 1,060 somoni (equivalent to some 305 US dollars) per 1,000 cubic meters, based on the USD exchange rate of some 3.47, and the previous gas supply price for large enterprises such as Tajik Aluminum Company (Talco), closed joint-stock company (CJSC) Tajikazot, and state unitary enterprise Tajikcement (Dushanbe cement plant) was 983.24 somoni per 1,000 cubic meters.
“If the USD exchange rate falls, the gas supply prices will be reviewed and reduced,” the source said, noting that Tajikistan now receives some 20,000-21,000 cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan. The present official exchange rate of the dollar against the somoni is 1:3.8577.
Tajiktransgaz now owes some 16 million US dollars to Uzbek gas companies, the source added.
