From January to August of this year, Russia boosted its natural gas deliveries to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan by 15%, according to a statement from the Russian trade mission in Uzbekistan.
The press release noted that Gazprom increased exports to these three countries over the eight-month period. Gazprom CEO, Alexey Miller, commented that the combined economies of these countries could grow by as much as 60% over the next five to six years, a development that would drive a significant increase in their energy and gas consumption.
The planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to China is expected to be a key catalyst for further increasing Russian gas deliveries to the Central Asian region.
In a related report, Uzbekistan's Statistics Committee data showed that the country's total spending on gas imports from both Turkmenistan and Russia fell by 27.9% in the same period, to $885.9 million. However, the republic's Energy Ministry has not disclosed the physical volumes or the specific cost of the imported gas.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS