BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 26
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
LUKOIL has restored gas production in Uzbekistan to almost the design level, LUKOIL vice president for finance Pavel Zhdanov said during a conference call, Trend reports citing RNS (Rambler News Service).
“Export supplies from our projects resumed, and a gradual recovery of production began in September. At the moment, daily production has been almost completely restored to the design level,” Zhdanov said, commenting on gas production in Uzbekistan.
Instead of sending gas for export to China, the company sold it on Uzbekistan's domestic market.
Zhdanov said in August this year that the company temporarily stopped gas production at the Gissar project in Uzbekistan due to a drop in gas demand in China due to the COVID-19 coronavirus infection pandemic.
He explained that the company has reached preliminary agreements on the supply of gas produced in Uzbekistan to the domestic market of this country in 2020.
The Gissar project is located in the Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan. LUKOIL entered the South-West Gissar project in 2008. There are seven fields in the contract area. The Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for the project is valid until 2043. PSA participants are Uzbekistan and LUKOIL (100 percent participation).
Earlier it was reported that Uzbekistan regularly covers gas debts to LUKOIL, which was formed due to the fact that Uzbekistan took part of the gas to the domestic market, although the terms of the PSA provide for the export of the entire produced volume of gas
“There is a big difference between prices for households and exports. Despite this, at the time when there was a need, gas was purchased from LUKOIL and sent to the domestic market. Due to the large price difference, there was a debt,” Deputy Energy Minister Bekhzot Normatov explained.
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