Russ Oil-Gas

24.01.2006 IntelliNews Today - According to gas major Gazprom’s head Alexei Miller, the company is going to buy 9bn m 3 of natural gas from Uzbekistan for USD 60 per 1,000 m 3 in 2006, which means a 28% increase compared to the price paid in 2005. What is more, the price, which Gazprom will pay Uzbekistan for transit of Turkmen gas through its territory was set at USD 1.1 for dispatching 1,000 m 3 of gas for the distance of 100 km. To remind you, in Feb 2005 Gazprom reserved all Uzbekistan ’s transit capacity for 2006-2010 period. At the same time, the gas company failed to agree with the Uzbek side on reconstruction of Central Asia-Center natural gas transit pipeline. As earlier reported, Gazprom would like to finance the modernization of the pipeline on Uzbek territory in exchange for production licenses for three major gas deposits in the country. The negotiations are still underway.