Uzbekistan pushes up gas prices

Uzbekistan is major exporter of natural gas in the region

Uzbekistan has doubled the price of natural gas its sells to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, officials have said.

The former Soviet republic is to charge $100 (£51) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, up from $55.

The revised price was agreed after top-level government talks in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov said.

Uzbekistan has previously suspended energy supplies to Kyrgyzstan, following political differences.

Extraction costs

Uzbekistan is the third-largest producer of natural gas in the former Soviet Union.

The country's state-run energy company said in October that it planned to raise the price of natural gas exported to Central Asian countries because of "increased prices for extraction, processing and transportation".

Kyrgyzstan relies entirely on imported gas, which it also buys from neighbouring Kazakhstan.

Mr Usenov said that Uzbekistan planned to provide his country with 850 million cubic meters of natural gas in 2007.