Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Mar. 30
By Demir Azizov – Trend:
Russia’s Gazprom and Uzbekistan agreed to sign a medium-term contract on purchase of Uzbek gas, said Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee Alexey Miller speaking about the results of his recent meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
It is expected that this will be a 5-year contract on a price formula.
Earlier, it was reported that Russia bought 6.2 billion cubic meters of gas from Uzbekistan in 2016, and plans to buy five billion cubic meters of gas in 2017.
During the meeting between Mirziyoyev and Miller, the sides 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.
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.
Gazprom has actively started its activity in Uzbekistan since 2003 with direct purchases of Uzbek natural gas.
The press service of Uzbek president said 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.