Turkmenistan will increase its natural gas exports to Uzbekistan, it was revealed during a phone conversation between president of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and chairperson of Turkmenistan’s Halk Maslahaty (People's Council) Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Turkmen state news agency Golden Age reported.
During the discussion, they agreed to expand the volumes of Turkmen gas supplied to Uzbekistan and emphasized the significant prospects for implementing joint gas projects in the near future, the statement noted.
While the press service of Uzbekistan’s president did not mention the gas agreement in its press release, it noted that bilateral trade turnover since the start of the year had exceeded $1 billion, with a significant portion attributed to gas trade.
Additionally, the two nations are seeing growth in cargo transit, including through Turkmenbashi port, and are advancing the construction of the Shavat-Dashoguz border crossing.
In late October, it was reported that Turkmenistan and Russia had not renewed their gas supply contract due to disagreements over pricing. Chairperson of Turkmengaz Maksat Babayev stressed that Turkmenistan had alternative buyers for the volumes that were previously exported to Russia.
In December 2022, Uzbekistan for the first time signed a direct short-term contract with Turkmenistan, bypassing Russia’s Gazprom, for the supply of 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas. By August 2023, the two countries agreed on another deal for up to 2 billion cubic meters of gas annually and began exploring a long-term contract to increase volumes further.
Uzbekistan’s gas imports have surged in 2024, reaching $1.36 billion, which is 2.4 times higher than the figures for the first 10 months of 2023, according to data from the State Statistics Agency.
Since October 2023, Uzbekistan has been importing gas from Russia through Kazakhstan via reverse-flow pipelines. Plans were underway to invest $500 million to modernize Uzbekistan’s main gas system to handle increased gas imports from Russia.
