Tajik specialists have started a comprehensive inspection of the Muzrabad-Dushanbe gas pipeline, through which Uzbek gas is funneled to Tajikistan.
Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, says alarms about the state of the aforementioned gas pipeline began to arrive at the end of last week, “when a gas leak caused two house explosions in Roudaki district”
According to her, some branches of the Muzrabad-Dushanbe gas pipeline have not been rehabilitated.
Recall, Uzbekistan resumed delivering natural gas to Tajikistan in April 2018, ending a six-year hiatus precipitated by diplomatic differences. Under a deal reached in March of 2018 between the two nations’ presidents, Uzbekistan pledged to deliver 126 million cubic meters of gas for $15.1 million in 2018.
The gas is funneled to Tajikistan through the Muzrabad-Dushanbe pipeline.
During 2018, Tajikistan reportedly imported US$6.9 million worth of 55 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan.
In 2019, Tajikistan significantly increased imports of natural gas from neighboring Uzbekistan. Last year, Tajikistan reportedly imported 140 million cubic meters of Uzbek natural gas in the amount of US$17.7 million.
According to data from the Uzbek Ministry of Energy, Tajikistan has imported 139.5 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan over the first eight months of this year. In all, Tajikistan will import 200 million cubic meters of Uzbek natural gas this year.
Uzbek natural gas is currently consumed mostly by industrial enterprises. The main consumer of the Uzbek natural gas in Tajikistan is the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO). According to some sources, it consumes some 80 percent of the country’s natural gas imports.
