Tajikistan halts gas deliveries

Uztransgaz, a state company providing gas to Tajikistan, has stopped deliveries, said Davlatali Nazriyev, head of the department for information of the Tajik Foreign Ministry, Interfax reports.

Tashkent said that the problem was caused by a lack of a contract for 2012. Dushanbe said that there were numerous requests for a new contract left without an answer.

Gas supply stopped on January 4. Tajikistan was to purchase 180 million cubic meters of gas in 2011, according to the contract. It only purchased 164.8 million cubic meters, exceeding indicators in January-November 2010 by 2.2%. The supplies were worth $43.6 million.

Tajik Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon requested Uzbek Vice-Premier Rustam Azimov on December 22 to respond on the issue. Azimov said that negotiations are held with Russia and China.

Tajikistan reduced gas extraction in January-November 2011 by 9.1% to 17.3 million cubic meters, compared with the same period in 2010.