Uzbek President Sounds Alarm on Bribes
Over the last two decades, half Uzbekistan’s oil and gas projects were developed with the involvement of bribery, according to the president of Uzbekistan.
Giving instances, Shavkat Mirzioev said an official at the Ustyurt gas chemical complex has received $80mn in bribes, local media reported mid-June.
He did not go into the details, but the $4bn Kor-Uz gas chemical plant was developed by a joint venture between state-run Uzbekneftegaz and a South Korean consortium. Mirzioev himself participated in the completion ceremony of project in 2016, when prime minister.
And referring to the $600mn owed to Russian independent Lukoil, he also criticised the purchase of gas from the company at $146/’000 m3 and selling it to the population at $40/’000 m³.
Lukoil’s share of production from Uzbekistan was 13.42bn m3 last year: 22.5% of the country’s total. Lukoil claimed in March that Uzbekistan had racked up $600mn in debt in 2018, as it took more than its share of gas for the local market.
The share volume is likely to grow to 14.5bn m3 this year, of which the Russian company plans to deliver 5bn m³ to local customers. The rest will be exported to China and Russia. Lukoil plants to increase the volume to 16bn m3/yr next year.