DUSHANBE, June 29, 2011, Asia-Plus — Rise in Russian gasoline tariffs is a heavy burden on Tajikistan’s economy and consumers, Tajik expert Mikhail Sim told Asia-Plus today.
According to him, Tajikistan’s annual requirements in gasoline are 360,000 tons. “An export duty set by the Russian government on one ton of gasoline is nearly US$416.00; it means that Tajikistan has to pay annually more than US$149 million for gasoline and export duty of US$193 million,” said Sim. “It means that under current Russian gasoline tariffs, Tajikistan has to pay nearly US$343 million, while the country’s budget stands at only some US$2 billion.”
“In order to save this money for development of Tajikistan’s economy, there ought to construct smalls oil refineries,” said the expert, “They cost between US$1 million and US$1.5 million and they could be constructed just in four or five months. Such ore refineries are repaid in six months. If to construct two or three small oil refineries, the country could meet 60-70 percent of its annual requirements in oil products.”
On the problem of providing the supposed refineries with raw materials, Sim noted that state unitary enterprise, Naftugaz va Angisht (Oil, Natural Gas and Coal), annually produced up to 27,000 tons of oil. “The deficient volume could be imported,” he noted.
