Uzbekistan produces more electricity, but reduces gas and oil production

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Gas production at major enterprises in Uzbekistan in August 2024 decreased to 3.79 billion cubic meters, the Statistics Agency under the President of Uzbekistan on industrial production announced, reports Gazeta.uz.

This figure is 3.6% (140.8 million cubic meters) lower than in August 2023 (3.92 billion) and 12.3% lower than in August 2022 (4.3 billion).

For the first eight months of 2024, production amounted to 29.9 billion cubic meters, which is 4.6% or 1.46 billion cubic meters less than during the same period last year.

The decline in gas production has been ongoing for several years. It’s worth noting that 75-80% of Uzbekistan's electricity is generated by burning gas.

The Statistics Agency has started publishing electricity production data, broken down between large and small enterprises. Total electricity generation for January to August increased by 4.1%, from 52.3 billion to 54.43 billion kWh.

Electricity production by large power supply enterprises, most of which operate on gas (as well as coal and hydroelectric power), decreased in August to 5.84 billion kWh, which is 625.4 million kWh (-9.7%) less than in August last year (6.5 billion).

For the first eight months, production dropped to 48.6 billion kWh, which is 6%, or 3.1 billion kWh, less than the eight-month figure for 2023.

The losses are being offset by electricity production from solar and wind power plants (which account for 10.6% of generation) at 5.8 billion kWh.

Earlier, the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan, commenting on the Statistics Agency’s data on the decline in electricity generation in May, stated that, in fact, electricity production grew by 5.8% due to solar and wind power plants, which are considered "small enterprises" and, under the law, report once a year. The decrease in supply was explained by "economical consumption" after tariff increases.

Monthly oil production amounted to 60.3 thousand tons (-6.2%, or minus 4 thousand tons, compared to August 2023). Over eight months, production dropped to 485.1 thousand tons (-6.8%, or minus 35.2 thousand tons compared to the same period last year).

In August, 106.5 thousand tons of automotive gasoline were produced, which is 1.4% less compared to August 2023 (108 thousand). In an eight-month comparison, growth was only 0.4% - 896 thousand tons.

Last month, diesel fuel production increased from 70.1 thousand to 86.8 thousand tons (+23.8% compared to August last year). However, when comparing January-August 2023 year-on-year, the figure increased by only 0.8% to 705.8 thousand tons.

Monthly coal production set a new record again at 888.1 thousand tons (+214.4 thousand), which is nearly 31.8% more than in August last year. From January to August, production grew by 15.8% to 4.37 million tons.

CentralasianLIGHT.org,

September 27, 2024