Russian natural gas giant Gazprom has found another outlet for its resources stranded by Western sanctions over the war with Ukraine by signing new supply deals with the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Gazprom signed an agreement with Uzbekistan to supply gas volumes and also signed an accord with Kazakhstan’s QazaqGaz to provide services for the transportation of Russian natural gas through Kazakhstan to customers in Uzbekistan while also promising more volumes to the Kazakhs.
The two-year agreement will provide 9 million cubic metres per day, or around 2.8 billion cubic metres per annum, of pipeline natural gas to Uzbekistan.
Oil focused
Uzbekistan is an oil and natural gas producer, though its output leans mostly towards oil.
The overall deal is for the transit of 6 Bcm of gas annually, which implies that other Central Asian countries may also come to import more Russian gas via this route.
The details of the natural gas supply deal were revealed on October 7 at a ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The search for new pipeline gas customers by Gazprom has continued after Western sanctions on pipeline gas to Germany and the European Union, though there were no specific sanctions on LNG and cargo deliveries continue.
The Gazprom-operated Sakhalin LNG plant in the Russian Far East lost Shell as a shareholder but Japanese shareholders remained on board as they rely on the more than 9 million tonnes per annum of deliveries to Japanese terminals.
Kazakhstan is the largest southern neighbour of Russia in Central Asia and Uzbekistan lies to the south of Kazakhstan.
There is also a Central Asian natural gas pipeline in the region that is connected to China and supply flows to the Chinese are increasing year-on-year,
China pipeline
The pipeline supplying the Chinese from the west originates on the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan border and passes through Kazakhstan on the 3,665 kilometres (2,277 miles) route to Horgos in the Xinjiang region of China.
A statement on the Gazprom deal with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan said that the “blue fuel” from Russia would be sent to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan, with a share of it also going to Kazakhstan.
“Firstly, this is an important factor in the energy security of our country and the entire region. Secondly, the supply will provide for additional volumes of gas for the uninterrupted supply to economic sectors and the population,” said the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
According to Mirziyoyev, the implementation of this project was a “vivid example” of successful mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the energy sector.
“The implementation of this project will have obvious benefits for all three countries. Uzbekistan will get an additional source of energy, allowing it to guarantee an uninterrupted supply of heat and electricity to households and socially important facilities. Kazakhstan will be able to solve the issue of gasification of its northern and eastern regions,” said Gazprom
