Gazprom and Tajikistan to sign gas agreement

Russian gas and oil conglomerate Gazprom and the Republic of Tajikistan will conclude a long-term agreement for cooperation in the gas sphere for the period of 25 years.
A Gazprom spokesperson told that Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller and Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov agreed to terms during negotiations in Moscow.

According to terms of the agreement, Gazprom and Tajikistan will jointly conduct prospecting, extraction and exploitation of gas resource deposits on the territory of Tajikistan (including allotment of products), build, reconstruct and exploit gas pipelines and other infrastructure objects, and also cooperate in the sphere of refinement, transport and realization of gas.

It is estimated that there is more than 1 tcm of gas resources on the territory of Tajikistan. At the current time, the volume of prospected gas reserves is small, and extraction does not provide for the domestic demand. The difference is made up by imports.
Gas extracted on private oil fields (24 mm cm in2002) is consumed in the south of Tajikistan. In the north, gas is delivered via a gas pipeline from neighbouring Uzbekistan (485 mm cm in 2002).