Tajikistan increases imports of natural gas from Uzbekistan

AKIPRESS.COM - Tajikistan has significantly increased imports of natural gas from neighboring Uzbekistan, Asia Plus reports.
The deputy head of Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Tojiktransgaz (Tajik state natural-gas distributor) Shavkat Shoimzoda noted that Tajikistan has imported more than $ 8.7 million worth of some 70 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan over the first six months of this year at the press conference in Dushanbe on July 16.
During the last year after Uzbekistan resumed delivering natural gas to Tajikistan in April, Tajikistan imported 54 million cubic meters of natural gas from Uzbekistan, Shoimzoda said.
According to him, Uzbek natural gas is currently consumed by industrial enterprises. The main consumer of the Uzbek natural gas in Tajikistan is the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO). It consumes some 80 percent of the country's natural gas imports.
Uzbekistan resumed delivering natural gas to Tajikistan in April last year, 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 last year.
The gas is funneled t Tajikistan through the Muzrabad-Dushanbe pipeline.
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 is the only supplier of gas of Tajikistan, routinely suspended gas deliveries to its neighbor amid complaints of nonpayment.