Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In 2023, Gazprom supplied natural gas to Uzbekistan at a price of about US$160 per 1,000 cubic meters. This was reported by Kommersant.

These supplies were carried out through the Central Asia - Center gas pipeline system in reverse mode, starting in October 2023.

Uzbekistan and Russia signed an agreement on the supply of 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

According to Kommersant, the Russian company supplied about 1.22 billion cubic meters of gas to Uzbekistan in the same year.

The current price of gas allows Gazprom to make a profit of US$20–22 per 1,000 cubic meters, notes Sergei Kondratyev from the Institute of Energy and Finance.

He believes that the increase in the profitability of supplies can increase with the abolition of export duties on supplies to Uzbekistan and with the participation of Russian companies in gas processing projects in Uzbekistan.

Gas production in Uzbekistan is declining due to depletion of fields. According to preliminary data, in 2023 the volume of gas production in the country decreased by 9.6%, amounting to 46.7 billion cubic meters.

The Russian authorities have expressed their intention to create a gas union with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to supply fuel to these countries and transit to China.

In November 2023, the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, announced plans to strengthen the company’s presence in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan through the conclusion of new 15-year contracts, the creation of new routes, the expansion of existing gas transmission capacities and gasification. The contractual framework for these contracts should be ready by mid-2024.

Uzbekistan plans to invest up to US$500 million in 2024–2030 in expanding the gas transportation infrastructure to a capacity of 32 million cubic meters per day.

Earlier it was reported that Uzbekistan plans to increase imports of Russian gas to 11 billion cubic meters of gas per year from 2026.