EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Uzbekistan: Tashkent Pledges to Export Gas Exclusively Via Russia

EURASIA INSIGHT

UZBEKISTAN: TASHKENT PLEDGES TO EXPORT GAS EXCLUSIVELY VIA RUSSIA
1/23/09

Uzbekistan has pledged to export gas exclusively via Russia. Tashkent presently has the potential to pump up to 31 billion cubic meters of gas to Russia annually via Gazprom-owned infrastructure.

"Uzbekistan sells gas to Russia and only Russia, while it is entirely up to Russia what to do with it next," the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Uzbek President Islam Karimov as saying.

Meanwhile, the Russian oil giant LUKoil plans to invest $5 billion in Uzbek gas projects over the next seven years. The money will be used to help boost Uzbekistan’s export capacity, specifically to speed development of the Kandim and Gissar deposits in southern Uzbekistan, according to the Uzbek daily Vesti. The LUKoil investment was announced after a meeting between LUKoil boss Vagit Alekperov and Karimov amid Russian President Dmitry Mededev’s two-day visit to the Central Asian state, Uzbek and Russian news outlets reported January 23.

"LUKoil for us is a time-tested partner. Throughout the time of our cooperation, the company has proved to be a very reliable, honest and efficient partner, and what’s more important, one who has a very attentive attitude," Karimov was quoted as saying.

Gissar is projected to produce 3 billion cubic meters of gas and more than 300,000 tons of oil per year. Gas exports from Kandim will hit 12 billion cubic meters per year by 2013, the Vesti report added.

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