OREANDA-NEWS Uzbekistan has signed a contract with Gazprom for the purchase of natural gas for two years, the press service of the Ministry of Energy of the republic reported in its telegram channel.

"The gas purchase and sale agreement was concluded between JSC "UzGaztrade" and LLC "Gazprom Export" for a period of two years, signed by the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan Zh. Mirzamakhmudov and Chairman of the Board of JSC "Gazprom" A. Miller," the ministry said. According to the agency, the agreement was developed on full commercial terms. The contract is one of the measures aimed at partially satisfying the annually growing demand of Uzbek consumers for natural gas in the autumn—winter period. "As part of the agreement, it is planned to start importing nine million cubic meters of natural gas per day from October 1 of this year. The annual volume is about two billion 800 million cubic meters," the Ministry of Energy added.

Russian gas will be delivered to Uzbekistan in reverse mode via the Central Asia — Center gas pipeline through Kazakhstan. This will require the construction of a new gas measuring station on the territory of the republic. In addition, 22 kilometers of new gas pipelines will be built, 56 kilometers of existing networks will be repaired and 14 different types of gas pumping devices will be replaced. All work is planned to be completed by September of this year, the Ministry of Energy added.