Monday, April 16, 2012 -
Kazakh state gas transportation firm KazTransGas on Monday warned it could suspend deliveries to Kyrgyzstan if the Bishkek government failed to pay an outstanding debt.
KazTransGas, a wholly owned subsidiary of KazMunaiGas (KMG), said it may turn off the pumps from May 1.
Kyrgyzstan’s national energy firm Kyrgyzgaz has run up a $7.5 million debt to its northern neighbor, the Kursiv news agency reported.
Kyrgyzgaz CEO Turgunbek Kulmurzaev told the local news agency Knews.kg his company was now looking for funds.
The Bishkek government also owes Uzbek natural gas supplier UzTransGas $800,000.
Separately, Kulmurzaev noted that the Kyrgyz gas company lost 56.4 million cubic meters of gas last year.
"The high rate of loss of natural gas is mainly due to worn-out gas installations. Indeed, over the past 30 years due to lack of funds no one was involved in their repair, restoration or replacement," he told a meeting of shareholders, according to a government report.
Putting a positive spin on the news, the gas chief said the energy loss was less by 2.6 percent than the year before, an amount of 1.2 million cubic meters.
Turning to Russia’s interest in Kyrgyzstan’s energy market, Kulmurzaev told the meeting that Russian gas giant Gazprom wants to buy a 75 percent stake in Kyrgyzgaz by September, knews.kg reported.
Gazprom is prepared to spend $500 million on a five-year program of developing Kyrgyzgaz, he said.