Uzbekistan is planning to discontinue the export of natural gas in the next five years and instead process it domestically, the country's prime minister, Abdulla Aripov, said on Saturday
TASHKENT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2020) Uzbekistan is planning to discontinue the export of natural gas in the next five years and instead process it domestically, the country's prime minister, Abdulla Aripov, said on Saturday.
"By 2025, measures will be taken to stop the export of natural gas and expand its processing within the country, as well as increase production of value-added products," Aripov was quoted as saying by the Uzbek gazeta.uz news portal.
The prime minister added that electronic gas and electricity meters would be installed at every household in the country before this year's end, which would reduce energy consumption and prevent problems with energy bills.
According to Uzbekistan's state-owned oil and gas firm, Uzbekneftegaz, the Central Asian country planned to increase its gas exports by 15 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year. Uzbekistan exports about 10 billion cubic meters of gas to China, four billion cubic meters to Russia, and the remaining share of shipments go to neighboring countries.
Uzbekneftegaz produces about 70 billion cubic meters of gas and 8 million tonnes of liquid hydrocarbons per year. However, due to reserves depletion and technological issues, production has dropped significantly over the past 15 years. There is a consistent shortage of fuel and gas in the domestic market, mainly in households.
