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 UZBEKISTAN
Former Soviet Union
Uzbekistan is an important producer of natural gas and
was producing large volumes after the Soviet Union broke up in 1990. The
country’s first major gas discovery was the Gazli field in 1957 in the
Amu-Daria Basin in southwestern Uzbekistan along the border with
Turkmenistan.
 Subsequently other large fields were found in the same
area, and smaller fields were drilled in the Fergana Valley in the east.
Uzbekistan has five remote oil and gas bearing regions - Usturt,
Bikhara-Khiva, Gissar, Surhandarya and Fergana and drilling in all of
them by the state company, Uzbekneftegaz, increased through the 1990s.
Production of oil increased up to 1998 but seems now to be decreasing.
This fact has encouraged the government to reverse its
policy of self-reliance and invite foreign companies to participate. New
EOR programmes on some fields may maintain production rates but will
probably not reverse the overall decline from the now well-explored
small basin areas.
Exports of gas go to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan whilst internal markets are the residential/commercial
sector, power stations, CHP and district heating plants, and
fuel/feedstock for industrial users. Some CNG is used in motor vehicles.
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CAPITAL
Tashkent
Population
27.3 million
Onshore area
(000's sq kms)
447.4
Offshore area
(000's sq kms)
NEW
OIL PEAK YEAR
1998 |
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