According to the Statistics Agency’s data on industrial production, Uzbekistan produced 16.26 billion cubic meters of gas in the first four months of 2023, which is a 9.5% or 1.69 billion cubic meters decrease from the same period last year.
In January, 4.31 billion (-7.5% compared to January 2022) cubic meters of gas were produced, in February — 3.85 billion (-9%) and in March — 4.16 billion (-12.96%). In April, Ukraine produced 3.94 billion cubic meters of gas (-8.1%). It is worth noting that the production volume for January-April 2022 is revised downward in the new report — from 18.01 billion cubic meters to 17.96 billion cubic meters.
Electricity production for the first four months decreased by 4%, or 993.5 million kWh, compared to the same period last year — from 24.98 billion to 23.99 billion kWh. According to the statistics, there has not been a drop in electricity generation since 2020 for the same period.
After falling in January (-2%), February (2.3%) and March (-1.7%), there was a 5.4% increase in electricity production in April.
Heat production in January-April decreased by 11.6% (in April there was a 27.6% increase), gas condensate production — by 7.7%. Oil production increased by 4.3%, but in April there was a slight decrease (2.8%).
Coal production in April increased by 9.7%, but since the beginning of the year in the total volume decreased from 1.59 million to 1.47 million tons (-7.4%). At a May 11 meeting, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said coal demand will increase 1.5 times and set a goal to increase output by 22.6% to 6.5 million tonnes.
“Gazeta.uz” wrote earlier that due to the reduction of tax rates for natural gas by 3 times and for oil and gas condensate by 2 times the state budget of Uzbekistan lost 538.1 billion soums of tax for the use of natural resources in 2022. Last year, gas production fell 4% and gas condensate production 2.8%. Oil production increased by only 1.8%.
In a previous discussion regarding the companies involved in Uzbekistan’s oil and gas fields, Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov revealed, in response to an Ozodlik investigation, that out of 294 oil fields, Uzbekneftegaz operates 118, with the remaining 176 managed by foreign enterprises.
As of January 1, 2021, Uzbekneftegaz held the largest proven reserves in the country, with 934.1 billion cubic meters of gas, accounting for 50% of current reserves. Lukoil managed 413.1 billion cubic meters (22.1%) of gas reserves, Uz-Kor Gas Chemical 109.6 billion cubic meters (5.9%), Surhan Gas Chemical 106.6 billion (5.8%), and Jizzakh Petroleum (now Saneg) 84.9 billion cubic meters (4.5%). Uzbekneftegaz was also responsible for the majority of the production.
