According to Dzhurabek Mirzamakhmudov, if geological works in Ustyurt do not give the expected result, gas imports from abroad to Uzbekistan by 2030 may reach 10-11 billion cubic meters. The minister attributed the current production decline to untimely geological exploration work, and 85% of operating mines are out of operation.
The strategy “Uzbekistan-2030” adopted last year set the task of increasing the volume of natural gas production up to 62 billion cubic meters per year. This means that the production volume should increase by 33% in 7 years. In another edition of the Lolazor podcast, economist Otabek Bakirov asked Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov about plans to increase domestic production and how much more imports can be increased.
“Natural gas supplies to consumers are increasing. This is natural because the economy and population are growing. Our plan until 2030 envisages natural gas imports of 10-11 billion cubic meters. The reason is that it takes 3 to 5 years to open a new mine and develop it. Exploration work was not done in time. The failure rate of our mines has reached 85%. If you notice, almost all mines have compression stations installed. Even in the Ustyurt region, where the most gas is produced, such stations are being built to improve efficiency. First of all, the geology of Ustyurt is very complex. DeGolyer and MacNaughton, an American company, has been involved in the Surgil project and has conducted a full audit of the reserves of the mine development project. Once everything is approved, financing for the project is envisioned by lenders and banks. But even what was shown by the Americans did not prove to be true. The reason is that mining here is extremely difficult,” the minister said.
Mirzamakhmudov said the results of geological work in Ustyurt will be taken into account. If the results are good, the projected 10-11 billion cubic metres of gas imports will be reduced; otherwise, the volume will remain.
Although Uzbekistan has sharply reduced gas sales abroad since the pandemic, the need for gas imports has increased due to the continuing decline in production and increasing domestic demand. As a result, energy dependence on Russia is increasing significantly. Since the beginning of the year, the value of gas imported by Uzbekistan has reached $1 billion.
Reprinted from https://kun.uz/
Comments