Uzbekistan broadens its portfolio

Central Asia’s third-largest gas producer is restructuring its energy mix to solve supply shortages

Uzbekistan’s president Shavkat Mirziyoyev is prioritising a series of economic and administrative reforms across the energy sector. A key part of this is the development of a strategy that focuses on domestic supply and the country’s nascent petrochemicals sector. Unusually for a Central Asian nation, Uzbekistan enjoys a high degree of gasification. And the majority of the 60bn m³ of gas  the country produces annually is used domestically, unlike its neighbours. But the country still experiences supply shortages that have hindered economic growth and, at times, triggered civil unrest. Uzbekistan also struggles to produce enough domestic electricity. Total production is half that of Kazakhs