BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 25. Uzbekistan is limiting imports of fuel oil, focusing on the development of environmentally friendly fuel, Rustam Nurbaev, commercial director of PanAsia Group, said at the Caspian and Central Asia Oil Trading and Logistics Forum in Baku, Trend reports.
According to him, at the moment, investments in Uzbekistan's oil and gas sector are insufficient to meet domestic demand, which leads to the need to import various types of fuel, including fuel oil and diesel fuel. The use of outdated fuels, such as 80-grade gasoline and low-quality diesel fuel, is damaging to the environment, and the government is actively combating the problem, Nurbayev said.
In 2023, Uzbekistan imported more than 700,000 tons of fuel oil, mostly from Russia. This high-sulfur fuel oil was adding to environmental pollution. In response to these challenges, the government limited fuel oil imports in 2024, and significant changes in supply volumes are expected in 2025.
Nurbaev expressed confidence that with the development of refineries in Uzbekistan, the country will move to producing more environmentally friendly fuels such as 92 gasoline. At the same time, problems with financial mechanisms in the domestic market remain a serious obstacle to attracting investment in the industry, and the government is actively working to resolve them.