Uzbekistan cuts off gas supplies to southern Kyrgyzstan
Uzbek National Company Uztransgas ceased gas supplies to
Kyrgyzstan's southern regions, KyrTag quoted Director General of
KyrgyzGas Turgunbek Kulmurzayev as saying on Wednesday.
"Uztransgaz cut off gas supplies to the south of the country today
at 00:00," Kulmurzayev said at the press-conference.
According to Kulmurzayev, Uzbekistan informed KyrgyzGas on
cessation of the gas supplies with a telephoned telegram sent on
Tuesday, but did not explain the reason of such a decision.
He also said that KyrgyzGas's debt to Uztransgas hit $880,000.
"I ordered today to pay $100,000. But if gas supplies were stopped
because of indebtedness the position of Uztrangas is not quite
clear. In fact, it didn't cut gas supplies to southern Kyrgyzstan
in winter despite the large amount of debt," Kulmurzayev said.
He said that all southern regions of the country except Jalal-Abad
province, which is provided by Kyrgyz gas, experience gas
deficit.
Besides the Uzbek gas, Kyrgyzstan is also heavily in debt for
Kazakh gas.