Uzbek Gas Production Dips in Q1
Natural gas production in Uzbekistan fell by 7.8% yr/yr to 13.073bn m3 in the Q1 2020, the country's statistics committee claimed on April 20. However, data previously published suggests a greater rate of decline.
According to the committee's Q1 2019 report, production totalled 15.3bn m3 in that period, down 4.1% yr/yr. But the new report places output during Q1 2019 at only 14.147bn m3. If the earlier report is accurate, then production in Q1 2020 fell by 14.6% rather than 7.8%. Monthly data appears to confirm this greater decline, with production in January, February and March of this year down 10%, 9.2% and 24.9% respectively.
The majority of Uzbekistan's gas exports go to China and Russia. Several heavily populated Chinese regions went into lockdown in late January to slow the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, cutting into gas demand. China responded by cutting its gas imports, citing forces majeures.
Uztransgaz CEO Ulugbek Sayidov said March 10 that deliveries to China were down, but he did not say by how much, while Kazakh energy minister Nurlan Nogayev said March 11 that gas exports to China were down 20-25% and oil exports had been suspended since mid-January.
The statistic committee did not disclose export volumes.
The country's gas exports were down 9.4% in 2019 at 13.47bn m3, while their value declined by 6.9%. China imported 4bn m3 of Uzbek gas that year. The Uzbek government previously forecast that gas output would rise to 63.8bn m3 in 2020, from 59.45bn m3 last year.
Gas extraction in Uzbekistan is geologically difficult, with only 1.1 trillion m3 of the country's 5 trillion m3 of total geological in-situ reserves estimated to be recoverable. Russia's Lukoil is the main foreign producer working in the country. Others include Russia's Gazprom, China's CNPC and US-registered Epsilon.