DUSHANBE, December 30, 2013, Asia-Plus — Over the first eleven months of this year, Tajikistan has imported 325,751 tons of oil products, including 116,600 tons of gasoline, according to the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MoEWR).
An official source at a MoEWR says an average price for one ton of gasoline has fallen from 1,288 U.S dollars to 1,049 U.S. dollars due to temporary application of an agreement on duty-free Russian oil product deliveries to Tajikistan.
Over the report period, Tajikistan has imported 118,900 tons of oil products to the total amount of 147.8 million U.S. dollars from the Russian Federation. This year, the share of Russia in Tajikistan’s fuel market was 36.5 percent.
We will recall that the Russian government made a decision on temporary application of an agreement on duty-free Russian oil product deliveries to Tajikistan beginning on November 12.
Under Article 11 of this agreement, the document can be temporarily applied starting from official publication of it in accordance with laws of both sides.
Tajikistan was exempted from paying Russian tariffs on oil and gas exports from 1995-2010 and Russia cancelled Tajikistan’s tax exemption on May 1, 2010 that resulted in gasoline prices rising in the country.
On February 6, 2013, Tajikistan and Russia signed the agreement on duty-free Russian oil product deliveries to Tajikistan. Under this agreement, the sides consider and endorse the indicative fuel balance for the next calendar before October 1 of each year. Fuels delivered in addition to the indicative fuel balance will be liable to export duty.
Russian oil products delivered to Tajikistan in the volumes not exceeding those agreed on indicative balance are not subject to re-export to the third countries. This ban also applies to Russian oil products delivered to Tajikistan from other member nations of the Customs Union.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan still provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s fuel imports. This year, Kyrgyzstan’s share in Tajikistan’s fuel market was 45.7 percent. In January-November this year, Tajikistan has imported 148,841 tons of oil products to the total amount of 133.8 million U.S. dollars from Kyrgyzstan.
