Deliveries of pipeline gas from Uzbekistan to China in January-October topped 2.57 million tons, TASS reported by with reference to the China’s General Customs Administration (GCA).
The total price of China's purchases of this type of energy carrier from Uzbekistan for 10 months stands at US$ 601.27 million.
According to the ministry, Turkmenistan is still placed first among top suppliers of pipeline natural gas to Beijing: over the given timeframe, China imported 19.79 million tons from this country worth US$ 5.38 billion. Russia is in second place in terms of supply volume (5.94 million tons worth US$ 1.1 billion), followed by Kazakhstan (3.73 million tons worth US$ 865.01 million), followed by Uzbekistan and Myanmar (2.53 million tons worth US$ 1.16 billion).
According to the State Statistics Committee, in January-October, Uzbekistan exported gas worth US$ 596.8 million (+ 42.9% compared to the same period in 2020), which virtually coincides with the figure announced by the Chinese customs administration. From this we can conclude that the Uzbek pipeline gas is fully supplied to China.
The average cost of supplying 1 ton of pipeline gas from Uzbekistan to China is US$ 233.95, while Turkmenistan sells for US$ 271.85 and Kazakhstan for US$ 231.9.
The former chairman of Uztransgaz said in March 2020 that the company supplies about 40 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas to the domestic market. In addition, gas is transported from Turkmenistan to Russia through Kazakhstan is around 6 BCM. About 35-38 BCM of gas are transported through the Asia Trans Gas JV (between the Chinese TAPLINE CNPC and Uzbekneftegaz), which manages the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas transmission system.
According to him, within the framework of the contracts for the supply of gas in 2020, it was planned to export about 2-6 BCM of gas to China, about 60 million cubic meters to Kyrgyzstan, and 200 million cubic meters to Tajikistan.
In early 2020, Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov announced that by 2025 measures would be taken to stop the export of natural gas and its complete processing within the country, as well as to expand the production of value-added products.
According to the amendments to the 2021 State Budget Law, the current expenses of the Ministry of Energy increased by 1.09 trillion soums (US$ 102 million) - from 43.8 billion soums to 1.14 trillion soums. Of this amount, 1 trillion soums (US$ 93.6 million) is planned to be used as "a subsidy to cover the difference in the average price of buying and selling natural gas to meet the needs of consumers in the country."
