Uzbekistan intends to increase imports of natural gas from Russia in transit through the territory of Kazakhstan by almost four times, TASS reported with reference to the Kazakh Ministry of Energy.

“Last year, with the participation of the head of state, the transit of Russian gas in the amount of up to 3 billion cubic meters per year was launched through the territory of our country to Uzbekistan”, the Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Almasadam Satkaliyev said at the board of the Ministry of Energy.

The board’s materials noted that from 2026, transit gas supplies to Uzbekistan are planned to be quadrupled – to 11 billion cubic meters per year.

The investment program of the government of Uzbekistan for the first quarter of 2024 announced plans to increase gas imports from Russia from the current 9 to 32 million cubic meters of gas per day. In addition, by 2030, the state company Uztransgaz intends to invest $470 million in modernizing the gas transportation system and doubling the capacity of the Gazli gas storage facility.

Supplies of Russian gas through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan started on October 7. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Energy, transit until the end of last year amounted to 800 million cubic meters, and delivery of 2.8 billion cubic meters is expected for the year. m.

At the end of October, the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, said that the countries of Central Asia and Russia are discussing an agreement on cooperation in the gas sector for the next 15 years. To increase supplies, the Russian state-owned company plans to expand the Central Asia-Center gas pipeline system.

In February, Russian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Oleg Malginov said that the countries were discussing concluding a new long-term gas contract with a “definite increase in supplies”.