Citing President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's comments at a government meeting, the UZA state news agency said Uzbekistan would be looking to diversify its gas sector after it was dealt a severe blow by the pandemic, causing an "unstable situation" for the commodity-rich country.
Uzbekistan exports around 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas to China annually.
The country sold 4.9 bcm to Russian state energy giant Gazprom in 2019 according to Gazprom's annual report.
Beijing's PetroChina, China's largest oil producer, reportedly issued a force majeure notice to a number of gas suppliers in March as a result of China's coronavirus battle, which sapped industrial demand. It said it lost $2.29 billion in the first quarter.
It is not clear to what extent the pandemic has affected China's purchases of gas from another Central Asian country, Turkmenistan, which exports over 30 bcm annually to China.
sk-cr/am/jh
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, is Copyright 1995-2026 Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principles for news reporting and research purposes. |
