DUSHANBE, December 14, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan has imported 125 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan since the beginning of this year, according to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI).
An official source at a MoEI says that natural-gas imports in November were little more than 10 million cubic meters, 2 million cubic meters more than in October.
“Under the preliminary agreement, Uzbekistan should have shipped 133 million cubic meters of natural to Tajikistan over the first eleven months, but Tajikistan has failed to import the necessary volumes of gas because of repair operations on the gas pipeline,” the source noted, adding that the wholesale price for Uzbek natural gas has not changed this year – 300 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.
According to
Tajikistan Monitoring & Early Warning Report
for November 2012, natural gas imports in October were 8.4 million cubic meters, 1.3 million cubic meters less than in September 2012, and 7.0 million cubic meters less than for the same period in 2011. For the first 10 months 2012, gas imports totaled 114.8 million cubic meters , 36.8 million cubic meters less than for the same period in 2011 (151.6 million cubic meters), the report says.
As far as natural-gas shipments for 2013 are concerned, the Tajik side is still waiting for reply to its official letter sent to Uztransgaz (Uzbek natural-gas supplier).
Tajikistan began negotiations with Uzbekistan on natural-gas shipments for 2013 last month.
According to information received from Tojiktransgaz (Tajik natural-gas distributor), Tajikistan is expected to buy 200 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan. However, this volume may be lowered. Tajikistan has reduced considerably natural-gas imports from Uzbekistan in recent years due to high prices.
The main consumers of Uzbek gas in Tajikistan are now the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) and Tojikcement (Dushanbe cement plant). “Current price of 1,000 cubic meters of Uzbek gas for them is 380.00 U.S. dollars,” the source said.
As far as the residential customers are concerned, more than 90 percent of them have not received natural gas since 2009 because of high prices.
Uzbek natural gas prices vary quarterly depending on the world trends and Tajikistan must make prepayments every ten days.
In 2010, an average price of 1,000 cubic meters of Uzbek natural gas for Tajikistan was US$240.00; in the first quarter of 2010, the price of 1,000 cubic meters of Uzbek gas was US$231.00 and in the fourth quarter, it rose to US$254.00.
In the first quarter of 2011, Tajikistan bought natural gas from Uzbekistan at US$227.85 per 1,000 cubic meters, while the price for the second quarter was US$249.19 per 1,000 cubic meters. In the third quarter, Tajikistan bought natural gas from Uzbekistan at US$284.33 per 1,000 cubic meters and the price for the fourth quarter was US$311.00.
