In June, Uzbekistan significantly increased its pipeline gas exports to China, according to data from the Statistics Agency.

Last month, natural gas shipments to China grew 23.88 times — from May's $7.6 million to $181.5 million. In the first half of the year, gas exports to China amounted to $241.4 million.

However, the data from the Statistics Agency slightly differs from that of the General Administration of Customs of China, which reports that Uzbekistan exported gas worth $234.9 million from January to June — an 11.2% increase compared to the same period last year.

Nevertheless, Chinese customs report a slight decrease in monthly natural gas shipments from Uzbekistan in June — from $85.06 million to $81.11 million.

Turkmenistan continues to lead in gas exports to China, supplying blue fuel worth $4.81 billion since the beginning of the year. Russia is in second place, slightly increasing its natural gas exports to $3.97 billion. Following are Myanmar ($679.7 million) and Kazakhstan ($558.9 million).

In the first six months, blue fuel imports from Turkmenistan and Russia to Uzbekistan increased 4.04 times — to $809.5 million. By the end of last year, Uzbekistan, for the first time in its history, transformed from a gas exporter to a gas importer.