Gas production at major enterprises in Uzbekistan in October 2024 decreased to 3.6 billion cubic meters, according to a report by the Statistics Agency under the President of Uzbekistan on industrial production, Gazeta.uz reports.
This is 5% (189.7 million cubic meters) less than in October 2023 (3.79 billion cubic meters) and 14.8% less than in September 2022 (4.23 billion cubic meters).
From January to October, gas production amounted to 37.1 billion cubic meters, which is 4.8% (or 1.87 billion cubic meters) less than in the same period last year. Compared to the same period in 2019 (50.1 billion cubic meters), the decline is 13 billion cubic meters—exceeding the annual gas consumption of households (based on 2022 data).
Gas production has been declining for several years. Meanwhile, 70–80% of Uzbekistan’s electricity is generated by burning gas.
The Statistics Agency has recently begun publishing data on electricity generation broken down by large and small enterprises. Total production over 10 months increased by 4.7%, from 63.7 billion to 66.6 billion kWh.
Electricity production at large energy enterprises, most of which rely on gas (as well as coal and hydropower), fell in October to 5.52 billion kWh, nearly 600 million kWh (-9.8%) less than in October 2023 (6.1 billion kWh).
From January to October, production decreased to 58.8 billion kWh, which is 6.7% (or 4.2 billion kWh) less than the ten-month total for 2023.
Losses are being offset by electricity generated from solar and wind power plants, with their share in overall generation rising to 11.6% (7.78 billion kWh).
Monthly crude oil production dropped to 59.8 thousand tons (-6.4%, or 4.1 thousand tons less than in October 2023).
Over 10 months, oil production fell to 602 thousand tons (-7.2%, or 46.4 thousand tons less than in the same period last year).
In October, 94.9 thousand tons of motor gasoline were produced, a 5.4% decrease (5.4 thousand tons) compared to October 2023 (100.3 thousand tons). The ten-month comparison also shows a decline - 1.09 million tons (-1.5%). Overall, gasoline production has been falling for three consecutive months.
Last month, diesel fuel production increased from 78 thousand to 81 thousand tons (+3.8% compared to October 2023). Year-to-date figures (January–October) show a growth of 0.6%, reaching 858.8 thousand tons.
Monthly coal production continues to set records, reaching 1.02 million tons (+360.2 thousand tons), 1.5 times the volume of October last year. Since the beginning of the year, production has grown by 24% to 6.34 million tons.
According to the Uzbekistan-2030 strategy, gas production in Uzbekistan is expected to reach 62 billion cubic meters by 2030 (though it has been declining in recent years). If geological exploration in the Ustyurt region does not yield the expected results, imports are projected to reach 10–11 billion cubic meters by that year, Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov previously stated.
CentralasianLIGHT.org,
November 22, 2024