Gazprom, Uzbekistan agree on gas purchases
By Kamila Aliyeva
Russia’s Gazprom and Uzbekistan agreed to sign a medium-term contract for the purchase of Uzbek gas, Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee Alexey Miller said when summarizing the results of his recent meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The deal is expected to be a five-year contract on a price formula, while the volumes were not disclosed.
Russia bought 6.2 billion cubic meters of gas from Uzbekistan in 2016. Reportedly, it plans to buy five billion cubic meters of gas in 2017.
Mirziyoyev and Miller also considered promising projects for further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation on the development of Uzbekistan’s oil and gas complex, including within the framework of the adopted program to increase hydrocarbon output for 2017-2021.
The press service of the Uzbek president reported that Mirziyoyev expressed satisfaction with the high level of long-term cooperation with Gazprom, and Miller expressed gratitude for the support to joint projects and the readiness to develop full-scale cooperation with Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, Gazprom will continue work on existing projects, in particular, on the Shakhpakhty project in Ustyurt, where more than 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas have been produced to date. The current production sharing agreement (PSA) on this project will be extended for additional five years.
In August 2004, Gazprom started the natural gas production at the Shakhpakhty field in Ustyurt with design capacity of 500 million cubic meters based on a PSA with a 15-year term.
An agreement was also reached on the resumption of work on the gas condensate field Jel, discovered by Gazprom in 2009. It is planned to sign a PSA within this project that will be based on results of the project’s feasibility study.
Moreover, Gazprom is taking part in the implementation of projects to study and develop the fields of Gissar region, on utilization of associated petroleum gas, as well as the development of activities of the country’s leading industrial design institute – UzLITIneftegaz.
Uzbekistan and Gazprom also intend to intensify the exchange of experience in the field of design work and personnel training for the gas industry.
Uzbekistan has vast resources of oil and natural gas. The country also ranks among the world's largest natural gas producers. The primary partner of Gazprom Group in Uzbekistan is National Holding Company (NHC) Uzbekneftegaz.
Gazprom launched implementation of projects in Uzbekistan in December 2002, following the agreement on strategic cooperation in the gas industry with Uzbekneftegaz. Joint development of the Shakhpakhty field, which was put into operation in April 1971, became a pioneer project.
Gazprom continues to look for potential oil and gas targets in different regions of Uzbekistan, as well as unallocated investment blocks offered to foreign companies, which may also be of interest to Gazprom.
---
Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz