BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 17
By Ilkin Seyfaddini – Trend:
Natural gas production in Uzbekistan declined by 24.9 percent in March 2020 to 3.9 billion cubic meters compared to March 2019, which is the lowest monthly figure since the beginning of 2018, Trend reports citing the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan's oil production in the period from January through March 2020 decreased by 1.5 percent compared to the same period of 2019, to 172,000 tons; natural gas production by 7.8 percent, to 13 billion cubic meters; and gas condensate production - by 5.1 percent to 383,000 tons.
In addition, the production of gasoline in Uzbekistan in 1Q2020 amounted to 282,700 tons showing a 15.5-percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2019), diesel fuel - 254,500 tons, whia decrease by 4.8 percent, the report said.
Earlier, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stated that devaluation of national currencies of the main trade partners of the country due to coronavirus' pandemic will reduce currency receipts, and drop of oil prices may reduce proceeds from gas export.
Natural gas production in Uzbekistan is carried out by enterprises that are joint ventures of Uzneftegazdobycha, Russian LUKOIL and Gazprom under PSA agreements, as well as China's CNPC, the US Epsilon Development Company, Hong Kong's Epsilon Asia Limited and a number of other companies.
The total natural gas reserves in Uzbekistan are estimated at five trillion cubic meters. Currently, the capacities of Uzbekistan's oil and gas industry allow producing up to 70 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.
According to official statistics, Uzbekistan's oil production in 2019 decreased by 6.3 percent to 698,600 tons compared to 2018, and natural gas production by 1.6 percent to 59.46 billion cubic meters.
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