Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 2 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
Uzbekistan needs investments to increase its potential gas exports, German expert on Central Asia Stefan Meister said this week.
"Uzbekistan has a need of investment in oil and gas infrastructure to get more gas for export free," Meister told Trend via e-mail.
After Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited the EU and met with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, people began talking about the possibility of transportation of Uzbek gas to Europe. In Brussels, Barroso and Karimov signed a memorandum on cooperation in energy, in particular, the modernization of the fuel and energy complex, introducing energy-saving technologies, and the development of transport-communication and transit corridors between the regions.
Europe is committed to a policy of diversifying energy supplies, particularly natural gas imports.
Realizing of the Southern Corridor project is of great interest to the EU. Theoretically, Uzbekistan may be its participant. Southern Corridor is designed to diversify routes and sources of energy supplies, thereby increasing the energy security of the EU. The Southern Corridor includes the Nabucco gas pipeline, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), White Stream, and ITGI (Turkey-Greece-Italy gas pipeline).
Uzbekistan has big energy reserves. According to BP, as of 2009, the proved gas reserves of the country hit 1.68 trillion cubic meters, while in 2009 Uzbekistan produced 64.4 billion cubic meters of gas and used 48.7 billion cubic meters.
He said that Uzbekistan does not produce enough gas for export to the EU countries. The main buyer of Uzbek gas is Russia, namely, its gas concern Gazprom. It buys about 15 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan does not produce enough gas to export to the EU countries. Most of its own gas is for domestic demand; there is very less left for export, the expert said.
Energy resources are a good means to increase the negotiation potential between Russia and the EU. Sure, if Uzbekistan would export gas to Europe, the interest of the EU member states would increase, he said.