Russia will increase gas supplies to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan, said the Russian president Putin during Kazakhstan-Russia talks in Astana on Wednesday.

“Since last year, Russia commenced delivery of gas to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan. And we will increase such supplies,” Vladimir Putin said.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also announced the signing of an agreement with Gazprom on the transit of Russian gas to Kyrgyzstan and the discussion of long-term supplies of Russian gas to Kazakhstan.

During the state visit of the Russian leader to Astana, the leaders of the two countries signed a joint statement on deepening the strategic partnership ties in the context of the new global order. A total of 20 intergovernmental, interdepartmental and commercial documents were signed.

Since October 2023, Uzbekistan has been importing gas from Russia through Kazakhstan in the reverse direction. It was reported that the authorities had plans to invest $500 million to modernize the main gas system to increase the volume of gas imports from the Russian Federation.

In line with the Uzbekistan-2030 Strategy, gas production in Uzbekistan is projected to be increased to 62 BCM by 2030 (it has been declining in recent years). If geological exploration in Ustyurt does not yield the expected results, imports will reach 10-11 BCM by that year, said Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov.

Gas imports to Uzbekistan since the beginning of 2024 have valued at $1.36 billion, which is 2.4 times more than the figure for 10 months of 2023, according to data from the Presidential Statistics Agency. Gas exports increased to $540.4 million (+17.9%). The government previously announced plans to stop gas exports in 2025.