TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom has received massive bad publicity for trying to raise prices with former Soviet client states.
Gazprom is seeking to get other former Soviet republics in the Commonwealth of Independent States like Georgia and Ukraine to pay prices closer to global market rates for the natural gas it exports to them. It has also agreed to pay 25 percent more for natural gas from Uzbekistan.
Last Friday, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller agreed to the price hike increase during a meeting in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, an official from the Uzbek state Energy Company Uzbekneftegaz told the Uzbek state media.
Gazprom will now pay Uzbekistan $60 per thousand cubic meters, up from $5 per thousand cubic meters.
According to Muslimuzbekistan.com, the Uzbek state media reported that Miller met with Uzbek President Islam Karimov and Uzbekneftegaz chairman Abdusalom Azizov prior to announcing the deal. The details of the agreement have not been announced.
Last year Gazprom announced its intentions to buy 8 billion cubic meters of Uzbek natural gas. The current Uzbek annual natural gas production is 55 billion cubic meters.
