TAJIKISTAN: JUST ENOUGH GAS TO KEEP ALUMINUM SMELTER IN ACTION

Uzbekistan has partially implemented an ultimatum to cut off gas exports to Tajikistan. As of June 16, Tashkent had cut the gas flow to the debt-ridden state to a trickle. The limited supplies will be used to keep the TALCO aluminum plant going, the deputy chairman of Tajiktransgaz, Shavkat Shoimov, told the Asia Plus news agency on June 16. TALCO owes Tajiktransgaz $700,000 in unpaid bills, he added. Other industrial users owe the company some $13 million. Uzbekistan almost doubled the cost of gas from $154 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $240/tcm at the beginning of 2009, leaving both neighboring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with outsize debts. Tajiktransgaz reportedly owes Uztransgaz a total of $18 million. Elsewhere, Kyrgyzstan is set to make monthly installments to pay off debts of $19 million to Uztransgaz in order to restore a full gas supply to the southern city of Osh. source：www.eurasianet.org