Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 09 2023

FSUOGM PERFORMANCE FSUOGM

Fuelling energy woes, Uzbekistan

sees drop in gas output

UZBEKISTAN AFTER gas shortages during an unusually freez- Last month both Tashkent and Astana signed
ing winter left Uzbeks shivering in the dark, new roadmaps with Russia’s Gazprom paving the way
Uzbekistan’s ambitious extraction data is adding to worries about the for gas exports to both countries, in volumes as
gas production targets country’s near-term energy security. yet unspecified.
have not been met. Gas production fell in 2022 to 51.66bn cubic That sparked controversy over the influence
metres (bcm), down 4.1% on the 53.8bcm this will afford Central Asia’s former colonial
extracted the previous year, government statis- ruler.
tics show, and 8.3% below Tashkent’s optimistic It has now emerged that Russia is in talks
forecast of 56.3bcm. with Kazakhstan about building a gas pipeline
The large shortfall does not bode well for to China through Kazakh territory. Gazprom
Uzbekistan’s chances of hitting its ambitious tar- and Kazakhstan’s state-owned QazaqGaz are
get of ramping up gas production to 66.1bcn by discussing a feasibility study, Kazakh Energy
2030 – a rise of 28% on last year’s figure. Such Minister Bolat Akchulakov said on February
an increase is intended to meet rising domestic 22.
demand, which the government forecasts will In January Tashkent sought to dampen con-
jump nearly a fifth by the end of the decade, from troversy about Russian sway over the sector by
some 47bcm last year to over 56bcm by 2030. assuring citizens there was “no threat of handing
Demand regularly rockets during cold spells over the gas transportation system to anyone, or
to levels that supply cannot match. This year’s to our sovereignty.”
severe winter caused pervasive nationwide But concerns were compounded by the sub-
power outages, sparking public anger. sequent release of an investigative report from
Amid gas shortages, the government said Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
in December it had completely halted exports, alleging that Russian vested interests had bene-
most of which go to China, to redirect supplies fited from alleged cronyism and lack of transpar-
to domestic consumers. ency in the awarding of contracts in Uzbekistan’s
Tashkent blamed discrepancies in statistics energy sector.
collection when Beijing’s data showed China still “Uzbek and Russian insiders took control
receiving imports from Uzbekistan in Decem- of hundreds of gas and oil fields in the Central
ber, when Tashkent put exports to China at Asian nation and were awarded lucrative con-
zero. Uzbekistan exported gas worth $910.9mn struction, drilling, and export rights, often with
to China last year, its statistics show. But China no public evidence of competitive bidding,” it
reported receiving $1.07bn, or 18% more. Tash- suggested.
kent ascribes this to Chinese data including tran- Tashkent has furiously rebutted many of its
sit gas from Turkmenistan. claims.
Tashkent has pledged to end gas exports com- Compounding the doom and gloom sur-
pletely by 2025, to free gas for domestic power rounding the energy sector, tax revenue from
generation and the petrochemical industry. the extractive industries fell by 12% last year, a
This winter the government has had to government report shows. Still, at 13.9 trillion
increase imports to meet demand, from Turk- som ($1.2bn), it was slightly above the govern-
menistan for example. ment forecast.
Russia is looking to cash in on rising demand The drop is mainly due to tax cuts for the
in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (also short extractive sector that came into force from Jan-
of gas this winter), as it seeks new export markets uary 2022 as part of the government’s efforts to
now that Europe shuns its supplies. attract investors. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 02•March•2023