TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, February 28. Uzbekistan plans to increase imports of Russian gas from the current 9 million to 32 million cubic meters per day (11.68 billion cubic meters per year), Trend reports.
As part of the investment program for gasification of Uzbekistan worth $500 million, Russia's Gazprombank loans will be used to modernize 511 km of gas trunk pipelines and 10 gas pumping stations.
Uzbekistan faced an energy crisis in 2022, when the country had to announce fan blackouts due to an abnormally cold winter and high gas consumption for heating and power generation. The country imported more gas than it exported in 2023.
At the suggestion of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the so-called triple gas union was launched on October 7 last year with the participation of the presidents of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
A soviet-era gas distribution system is used to pump gas through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan, which Gazprom and its partners have switched to reverse mode - previously, fuel was supplied to Russia from Central Asia.
Meanwhile, Russian Inter RAO's representative Alexandra Panina said that Uzbekistan is interested in the company's proposal to supply electricity to the country.
However, she noted the difficulties in transit through Kazakhstan, given the already existing supplies to Kyrgyzstan in this direction.