KULOB, June 16, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Residential customers in the city of Kulob have not had natural gas since June 15.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the Kulobgaz (Kulob state natural-gas distributor) director Khairullo Habibulloyev said that they cut off gas supplies to residential customers yesterday due to 1.3 million somoni in arrears that Kulob residential customers now owe to Kulobgaz.  

According to him, the city of Kulob currently receives some 6,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day from the Baljuvon field.  The Baljuvon gas is completely supplied to the Kulob brickworks.  “The Kulob brickworks currently owes 270,000 somoni to us, however, we are forced to supply gas to the plant because we do not have underground reservoirs utilized for storage of natural gas,” Habibulloyev said.