ASTANA, November 30 (RIA Novosti) - Kazakhstan is in talks with Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] on raising its transit charge for Central Asian gas pumped via its territory to Russia by 45%, Kazakh energy minister said Thursday.
Kazakhstan currently charges $1.1 per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 kilometers for natural gas flowing through its pipelines to Russia from gas-rich Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, a price that it wants to raise by 50 cents.
"Preliminarily, we intend to raise the price to $1.6," Bakhtykozha Izmukhambetov said.
Transit of Uzbek and Turkmen gas via Kazakhstan to Russia totals 45-50 billion cu m annually.
