In 2023, Uzbekistan bought natural gas from Russia at $160 per 1,000 cubic meters. Kommersant said in an article about the diversification of Russian gas markets.

Uzbekistan began importing Russian gas through Kazakhstan on October 7, 2023. According to the deal between UzGasTrade and Gazprom, daily supplies stand at 9 million cubic meters, or 2.8 BCM per year. This volume will be worth nearly $448 million. 

Energy Minister Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov previously stated that all Russian gas will go to the domestic market, where the tariff for state-owned enterprises and budget-financed organizations was raised to 1,000 soums from October 1, and for legal entities - to 900 soums. For the public, the price is the same since 2019 - 330 soums. 

According to Kommersant, the value of supplies to Uzbekistan is significantly lower than the average sales prices both to Turkey (about $270-280 per 1000 cubic meters) and to China ($260-270). Nevertheless, the current price allows Gazprom to make a profit of $20-22 per 1,000 cubic meters, underscored Sergei Kondratyev from the Institute of Energy and Finance. 

The transit of Russian gas through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan is planned to increase from the current 3 BCM to 11 BCM per year from 2026, TASS reported, citing the Kazakh Ministry of Energy. 

Sergei Kondratiev believes that against the backdrop of falling domestic gas production, a volume of 11 BCM will be enough for Uzbekistan to perform the export contract to China (10 BCM are reported). 

“In my opinion, in order for Uzbekistan to export 5-6 BCM to China by 2030, it will have to increase imports to 15-18 BCM. Of course, in this case we are talking not only about supplies from Russia, but also about increasing imports from Turkmenistan,” the expert said. 

The CEO of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, said that by mid-2024, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan vow to outline obligations in the field of cooperation on gas supplies and transit for 15 years. 

As reported earlier, the Uzbek authorities intend to main gas system modernization project worth $500 million to increase the volume of gas imports “from the north.” The volume of supplies is planned to increase from 9 to 32 million cubic meters of gas per day. 

The World Bank has warned that Central Asian countries could soon face a growing imbalance in gas supply and demand.