Russia is considering the possibility of increasing exports of oil and oil products to Uzbekistan, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov stated at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan on December 15 in Moscow.
Manturov highlighted the fruitful cooperation between the parties in the areas of standardization and metrology. Currently, lists of recommended testing apparatus for the modernization and equipping of testing laboratories on the Uzbek side have been compiled.
“As a result, it will be possible to assess compliance with the requirements of 15 technical regulations of the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union). We attach great importance to cooperation in the energy sector. We are working on the possibility of increasing supplies of oil and oil products to Uzbekistan,” TASS quoted Manturov.
Photo: Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia
Furthermore, as the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade noted, Russia supports Uzbekistan’s aspiration to develop its own mineral resource base. Russia is ready to engage in further negotiations on partnership in the fields of geology and subsoil use.
“We already have successful projects on oil and gas exploration in the Aral Sea and adjacent territories. For the first time in the post-Soviet history, seismic exploration for hydrocarbons has been carried out on the territory of Uzbekistan. Their results allow predicting the discovery of large predominantly gas fields in the region,” he emphasized.
Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev has also taken part in the 24th meeting of the intergovernmental commission.
As a reminder, in 2024, oil supplies from Russia to Uzbekistan through the territory of Kazakhstan are planned to be boosted up to one million tons. It is more than three times the volume of oil anticipated to be imported in 2023 (300 thousand tons).
At the beginning of 2023, the volume of gasoline imports to Uzbekistan increased several times. In the first four months, 335.2 million liters were supplied — a nearly twofold increase from the previous year. The total import value amounted to $136.67 million, or $0.4 per liter. Almost the entire volume came from Russia.
At the mid-November meeting in Termez, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev shed light on implementation of major projects in Surkhandarya’s industrial landscape. According to him, the launch of a gas-chemical complex in Baisun and expansion of geological exploration will pave the way to Uzbekistan’s oil independence within two-three years.
