Tajikistan has asked to import 2.5 million metric tons of oil and petroleum products from Iran, the Central Asian country's transport ministry said, as its traditional supplier Russia grapples with fuel shortages of its own.
In a statement posted on its website this week, the ministry said that Tajikistan had requested 2.55 million tons of fuel, including 2 million tons of crude, 150,000 tons of gasoline, 300,000 tons of diesel and 100,000 tons of jet fuel.
Tajikistan has traditionally sourced up to 80% of its petroleum products from Russia, but the Persian-speaking country also has close cultural and linguistic ties to Iran.
It did not give a timeframe for the supplies.
Russia has faced fuel shortages in recent months, as Ukraine wages a campaign of drone strikes against its oil refineries.
In July, Tajikistan's energy minister said that authorities were negotiating with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq and Belarus regarding additional supplies of petroleum products.
Russia has export bans in place for diesel fuel, gasoline and aviation kerosene to stabilise the domestic fuel market. Intergovernmental supply deals are exempted from the ban.
