The Antimonopoly Agency under the Government of Tajikistan cannot make supplier of oil products cut down prices for their products.
“Each company works in order to secure profits and we cannot make suppliers of oil products cut down prices,” the first deputy head of the Antimonopoly Agency, Nazar Odinazoda, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 17.
According to him, the decision to raise prices for oil products is based on world market trends.
Odinazoda stressed that the country’s fuel market is under permanent control of the Antimonopoly Agency.
In accordance with the country’s antimonopoly legislation, companies accounting for 35 percent of market are put on the register of dominating companies. Before introducing new fees, such companies must coordinate them with the Antimonopoly Agency.
Meanwhile, prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gasoline have risen dramatically in recent weeks.
After the middle of June, prices for LNG in Dushanbe leapt by more than one-third, from 3.40 somoni per liter to around 4.90 somoni in mid-July while gasoline has risen nearly 15 percent, jumping from around 6.40 somoni to 8.00 somoni per liter.
According to official figures, around 82 percent of the 340 tons of LNG imported for motorists annually comes from Kazakhstan. The rest is from Russia.
Eleven companies and one individual entrepreneur are now engaged in supplying LNG to Tajikistan. Over the first six of this year, they have reportedly supplied some 180,000 tons of liquefied natural gas to Tajikistan, which is 8,000 tons more than in the same period last year.
In all, 217,000 tons of oil products, including 85,000 tons of gasoline and 92,000 tons of diesel fuel, have been delivered to the country in January-June this year. Around 77 percent of oil products has come from the Russian Federation.
Three economic entities, namely limited liability companies Gazpromneft-Tajikistan and Seganj as well as the Agency for State Material Reserves under the Government of Tajikistan reportedly dominate the country’s fuel market.
