Kyrgyz media has reported Uzbekistan has renewed gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan's southern Osh area after more than eight months.
Tahir Alimov, the deputy director of the Osh branch of Gazprom Kyrgyzstan, said Uzbekistan started shipping gas to the Osh region about 3:00 a.m. on December 30.
It was unclear what prompted Uzbekistan to resume gas exports to its eastern neighbor.
Uzbekistan suspended supplies on April 14 this year when the contract with Kyrgyzstan expired.
That was approximately the same time Kyrgyzstan officially sold state gas company Kyrgyzgaz to Russia's Gazprom for a symbolic $1 and promises from the Russian company to overhaul Kyrgyzstan's gas infrastructure.
Kyrgyz officials have complained since then that Uzbek officials were not interested in opening negotiations on a resumption of gas supplies for southern Kyrgyzstan and at times Uzbek officials would not even pick up the telephone to speak with Kyrgyz officials about the matter.
