I don't surpose this will have much or any impact on KYS's running costs.
Tajikistan to pay double for Uzbek gas
AFX
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AFX) - Tajikistan has agreed to pay almost double the current price for natural gas from neighboring Uzbekistan next year, the head of Tajikistan's state-owned gas company said Thursday.
Under deals signed in the Uzbek capital Tashkent earlier this week, Tajikistan will buy 700 million cubic meters of Uzbek natural gas for $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, up from the current price of $55, said Tajikgaz director Fatkhiddin Mukhsiddinov.
Tajikistan uses up to 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, about half of it consumed by Soviet-era aluminum and cement plants that are cornerstones of industry in a country recovering from a 1992-97 civil war.
This year, Uzbekistan supplied only 610 million cubic meters out of a planned 750 million, because Tajikistan was unable to pay.
Uzbekistan, the third-largest natural gas producer in the former Soviet Union, has repeatedly suspended energy supplies to economically struggling Tajikistan and another neighbor in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, over alleged debt.
Tajikgaz had to borrow $2 million from a bank in September to help pay for Uzbek gas, but has cleared all its debts now, Mukhsiddinov said.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.