Gazprom JV to Invest Upstream in Uzbekistan

Natural Gas-Stream, a joint venture of Gazprom's Gas Project Development Central Asia and state-run Uzbekneftegaz have agreed to invest $700mn in gas projects, the Uzbek company told NGW.

Natural Gas-Stream plans to explore the Sechankul, Akdzhar and Chimboy and to develop the Urga, Akchalak and Chandyr groups of fields in the Ustyurt region in the northwest. Gazprom has been doing geological exploration work in this region for about 15 years. Reserves are about 120bn m³ for an annual output of 1.6bn m³/yr.

The investment is estimated at above $700mn, of which the JV will provide 36% and the rest will be a loan from abroad, the company said.

State-run Uzbekneftegaz, which accounts for 70% of the gas production and 15% of its gross domestic product told NGW earlier that over the last year, investments in this sector totaled $2.3bn and almost half of that, $952.5mn, came from overseas. It expects to see investments this year rise to $2.6bn, of which about $1bn will be from abroad.

Uzbekistan plans to invest $33bn in its oil and gas sectors during 2019-2025.

Uzbek gas production grew by just 6.1% last year to total 59.84bn m³, the central Asian republic's state statistics committee said January 16. The gain fell far short of the planned 16.8%.