Russian gas supplies to Central Asia could be increased, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club. Gas deliveries will begin in October of this year, Interfax reports.
"We have never supplied gas from Russia to Central Asia. In Soviet times, everything was different—gas was supplied from Central Asia through two pipeline systems. But now, given the growing needs of the economy, the growing needs of our friends in Central Asia, and climate change—for example, in Tashkent, it was minus 24 this year, which no one can remember—it's just incredible, but it happened, which means it can happen again. We were asked to consider starting the supply of Russian gas to these countries, which are important, we understand that," said Putin during his speech.
"We have worked on this. Our Kazakh friends implemented a plan to restore their part of the pipeline system, the same was done in Uzbekistan, and Gazprom had to do the same on the territory of Russia, including reconfiguring some technical capabilities," Putin added.
"We will implement this. Technically, this has already been done. Full-fledged supplies will begin in October. At first, in small volumes, but this is critically important for the economies of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We will supply 3 billion cubic meters per year, and then we may increase it," said the Russian president.
As part of the SPIEF-2023, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov, Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan, signed a contract for the supply of Russian gas to Uzbekistan and a roadmap for preparing Uzbekistan's gas transmission system for its reception and transportation.
The planned start date for Russian gas exports to Uzbekistan through the territory of Kazakhstan is the fourth quarter of 2023. The two-year contract between UzGazTrade JSC and Gazprom Export LLC envisages gas supplies of 9 million cubic meters per day, almost 2.8 billion cubic meters per year.
The "Roadmap" included the construction of new gas metering stations on the territory of Uzbekistan for gas supplies in reverse mode through Kazakhstan via the Central Asia-Center gas pipeline. It also included major repairs and replacement of three units of gas pumping equipment, restoration work on 11 units of gas pumping equipment, the laying of 22 km of new main gas pipelines, and the repair of 56 km of gas pipelines.
At SPIEF-2023, Gazprom also signed an agreement with the Kazakh company QazaqGaz for the provision of services for the transportation of Russian natural gas across the territory of Kazakhstan to consumers in Uzbekistan.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
October 6, 2023