Bakhtiyor Anarkulov was dismissed from the post of acting deputy chairman on financial issues of JSC Uztransgaz, Gazeta.uz said with reference to government sources.

The reason for dismissal is a big indebtedness to Lukoil. In early March, it was reported that Uzbekistan owed the Russian company in 2018 about $600 million.

According to Azat Shamsuarov, Lukoil’s senior vice president for production, the debt was constituted due to the fact that Uzbekistan preserved a part of the gas produced in the country for the domestic market, although the terms of the production-sharing agreement provide for the export of the entire volume of gas produced.

However, Uztransgaz noted that currently, there is no official document on the dismissal of Bakhtiyor Anarkulov.