TV Report Looks at Uzbek Debt for Leasing Kyrgyz Land

Excerpt from report by privately-owned Kyrgyz Channel 5 TV on 14 May

[Presenter] For 15 years, the situation with regard to oil wells in [southern] Batken Region has remained unclear. After the delimitation of the border with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan received areas of land with oil and gas deposits. However, Uzbekistan is developing the [gas] deposit and, basically, selling to Kyrgyzstan gas produced on its own territory. Our special correspondent in the southern region, Nurlan Adayev, discusses why this question has not been solved for many years.

[Passage omitted: background information on an area with oil derricks]

Its story started in 1980, when Uzbekistan asked 250 ha of land in Kyrgyzstan for constructing the North-Sox gas holder. Our authorities did not refuse, but set down the only condition that the Uzbek side must pay rent in line with all agreements. However, Kyrgyzstan has not received a single penny for the rent so far. Currently the debt is 400m soms [about 11m dollars].

[Tashtemir Eshaliyev, head of the defence and order department of the Batken regional administration] They are still not paying it. We have sent several letters.

[Passage omitted: remarks on letters sent to relevant bodies]

[Correspondent] The Uzbek side is successfully producing up to 80 t of oil products at the rented territory. This is excluding gas, which is being exported to Kyrgyzstan among other states. So it means that we buy our own gas from Uzbekistan. From the beginning of this year, the price for Uzbek gas for our country almost doubled and reached 145 dollars for 1,000 cu.m.

[Eshaliyev] The oil also comes from the Burganda massive. For this reason, the oil and gas are also ours.

[Correspondent] Does this mean that they are selling our gas to us?

[Eshaliyev] Yes, they do.

[Passage omitted: many oil derricks were destroyed and sold as scrap metal]

Originally published by Channel 5 TV, Bishkek, in Russian 1400 14 May 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Central Asia. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.