Uztransgaz and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have begun drafting the Gas Master Plan (GMP), which provides for the establishment of a Central Asian gas hub in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.
Earlier in September 2019, the Uzbekistan Minister of Energy, Alisher Sultanov, at the forum of energy ministers of the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation, proposed to create a unified dispatch control center in Tashkent for distribution of natural gas in Central Asia.
“As a key part of the plan, a GMP model will be prepared to update and study alternative scenarios for the development of the gas sector and its economic implications,” the statement added. The German ILF Business Consult GmbH will be consulting in the drafting of the GMP.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the master plan also provides for the preparation of a Uzbekistan’s medium-term (10 years) and long-term (20 years) gas transportation infrastructure development strategy, an analysis of the demand and supply for the Uzbek gas, and scenarios for its transportation.
In January, the Prime Minister, Abdulla Aripov said that the country plans to stop the export of natural gas by 2025 and process all of its production domestically.
According to the State Statistics Committee, natural gas production in Uzbekistan in 2019 decreased by 1.6%, to 59.46 BCM compared to 2018. In 2020, production is planned to increase by 7.2%, to 63.8 BCM.
