Uzbekistan has delivered more than 4.5 million cubic meters of natural gas to Tajikistan since April this year, the first deputy head of Tojiktransgaz (Tajik state-run natural gas distributor), Shavkat Shoimzoda, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 16.
Shoimzoda noted that Uzbek gas deliveries were increasing every month. “In April-June, Tajikistan imported little more than 3 million cubic meter of natural gas from Uzbekistan,” said Shoimzoda. “Over the first fifteen days of July, we have imported more than one million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan.”
According to him, the main consumer of Uzbek gas is the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO). “To-date, Tajik aluminum smelter has consumed some 80 percent (3.5 million cubic meters) of Uzbek gas being delivered to Tajikistan this year,” Shoimzoda noted.
Asked about supplying natural gas to residential consumers, he noted, “We are currently considering this issue.”
Shoimzoda refrained from naming the price at which Tajikistan is purchasing natural gas from Uzbekistan this year.
Recall, Uzbekistan resumed delivering natural gas to neighboring Tajikistan in early April, ending a six-year hiatus precipitated by diplomatic differences.
Some sources say that under a deal reached in March between the two nations’ presidents, Uzbekistan has pledged to deliver 126 million cubic meters of gas for $15.1 million this year. At $120 per 1,000 cubic meters, that translates into substantially favorable rates.
The gas is being funneled through the Muzrabad-Dushanbe pipeline and appears intended mostly — if not entirely — to provide for the needs of the TALCO aluminum plant and its employees in the western Tajik town of Tursunzoda.
A preliminary agreement for gas deliveries was reached during talks that took place in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, in early November last year.
Uzbekistan stopped gas deliveries via pipeline to Tajikistan on December 31, 2012 after both sides failed to agree on gas prices following the expiration of their contract.
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan’s only supplier of gas, routinely suspended gas deliveries to its neighbor amid complaints of nonpayment.
Uzbek natural gas prices varied quarterly depending on the world trends and Tajikistan had to 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 was buying natural gas from Uzbekistan for 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 was buying natural gas from Uzbekistan for US$284.33 per 1,000 cubic meters and the price for the fourth quarter was US$311.00.
In 2012, an average price for 1,000 cubic meters of Uzbek gas in Tajikistan was 300.00 U.S. dollars. In 2012, Tajikistan received 132.4 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan, 46.6 million cubic meters fewer than in 2011.
Signs of a thaw in relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan emerged in September 2016. In the years since independence, bilateral relations have been plagued by mistrust, disputes over water resources and outright hostility. Both sides have adopted a series of punitive measures against each other. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has expressed interest in “resetting” relations with Tajikistan.
