Russia's state-controlled gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) will buy natural gas from Uzbekistan on a European pricing formula starting this year, the company said Friday.
Gazprom is forced to pay higher prices for the natural gas it imports from Central Asian countries like Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, amid growing competition from the West and China for access to the gas of the ex-Soviet countries.
In September, the company said it might have to spend $20 billion to buy Central Asian gas in 2009, compared with $8 billion in 2008.