Uzbekistan reduces gas export to China amidst import surge

In February, Uzbekistan more than halved its exports of natural gas to China, data from the General Administration of Customs of the PRC suggests.

Last month, Uzbekistan's gas supplies to China decreased by 2.08 times — from $38.77 million to $18.6 million. In the first quarter of 2023, Uzbekistan did not carry out export deliveries of the "blue fuel" to China.

However, the statistics from the Chinese side significantly differ from the data provided by Uzbekistan's Statistics Agency, according to which Uzbekistan exported natural gas amounting to $26.7 million in January-February — 3.6 times more than in the same period last year.

For the first two months, the import of "blue fuel" from Turkmenistan and Russia increased 95.6 times — to $166.7 million. 

In 2023, Uzbekistan became an importer of gas for the first time in its history.

Moreover, on March 27, Kazakhstan's Minister of Energy, Almasadam Satkaliyev reported an increase in demand for the transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan.

"It depends on the requests of our Uzbek colleagues. Currently, they are slightly exceeding the initially stated plans. In general, we are observing an increase in demand for the transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan," the head of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy said.

Last year, Uzbekistan purchased natural gas from Russia at a price significantly higher than domestic gas tariffs, with the import costing $160 per 1,000 cubic meters, which is, however, considerably cheaper than in Turkey and China.