Uzbekistan halts gas exports amid domestic crunch
Uzbekistan has halted the export of natural gas in order to cover a spike in domestic demand, the Uzbek energy ministry told Russia's Interfax news agency on January 6.
The Central Asian country has no plans to export any gas to Russia in 2022, the ministry said. It exported 4.9bn m3 of gas to Russia in 2019 before halting them the following year. Uzbekistan also pumps gas to China, with shipments totalling 3.28bn m3 last year.
Uzbek gas production came to 47.1bn m3 in 2020, while consumption totalled 43bn m3. The country's long-term strategy is to use more gas domestically for power generation and as a feedstock in industry, while ending exports. In late December the country opened a new gas-to-liquids, which at full capacity will consume 3.6bn m3 of gas annually.