According to Uzgosneftegasinspection, 71 GFCS and 359 GFS had been launched in Uzbekistan from February 2007 to the first quarter of 2010. Increase number of gas filling stations is increasing number of vehicles, using gas as fuel, in total car fleet of Uzbekistan.

In line with the official statistics, 2,442 vehicles were re-equipped for use of compressed gas in 2009, of which 1,931 belongs to individuals. During the same period of 2009, 6,093 vehicles were reequipped for use of compressed gas, of which individuals owned 5,521 vehicles.

Experts note that private vehicle owners are re-equipping their vehicles to use of gas. At the same time, they more use equipment for using compressed natural gas compared to equipment for using liquefied hydrocarbon gas.

According to research of information-analytical service of the Uzbek Commodity Exchange (UzEX), the main reason for methane popularity compared to liquefied gas is economic motives. The cost of the one cubic meter of methane in retail market, currently, is three times less than liquefied gas. Three years ago, this advantage in price was minimal due to low development of infrastructure of the GFCS. During this period, this barrier was eliminated. UzEX experts believe that this became reason for high interest of drivers to methane.

Experts believe that currently, two separate markets – liquefied and compressed gas – almost formed in Uzbekistan. At the same time, both of them have regularly developing infrastructure and customer base.

General Motors Uzbekistan CJSC JV is also preparing to start production of gas consuming vehicles. Soon, the venture plans to begin production of Damas with liquefied gas engines. The project on transfer of Damas mini-buses to cheaper fuel was included to perspective investment projects for 2010. Uzavtosanoat JSC said that the venture started to develop draft feasibility study of the project.

In line with the preliminary calculations of Uzavtosanoat, the utilization of new modified model of Damas, using liquefied natural gas (propane-butane mixture), will be completed by the end of 2011. GM Uzbekistan will require this period for full transfer of production line to new production technologies. The projected cost of the project is about US$5 million. The company said that it is searching now for potential foreign investor for launch of the project. Besides, the company is also determining the forms of financing.

According to preliminary data, the project will be repaid after two years from the launch of production line. It is planned that the venture will produce 25,000 Damas models with liquefied gas engines a year.

In February 2007, Uzbekistan started to implement wide-scale state programme on transfer of part of automobile fleet from petroleum to liquefied hydrocarbon and compressed gas. The programme was approved by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “On measures on developing network of automobile gas filling compressor and automobile gas filling stations and stage-by-stage transfer of vehicles to liquefied hydrocarbon and compressed gas”.

In line with the data of Uzbekneftegaz, about 198,000 vehicles will be transferred from petroleum consumption to alternative fuel in line with the governmental programme.

In line with the government plans, Uzbekistan will build 138 GFCS and 952 GFS by the end of 2012. Uzgosneftegasinspection said the programme was implemented by 70%, while in some regions by 100%. For example, all limit of allocated lands for GFCS were selected. Currently, Tashkent administration is considering to allocate additional land areas for construction of GFCS.

Uzbekneftegaz calculated that expansion of GFCS and GFS network will allow to increase internal demand for methane from 283.5 million cubic meters to 919 million cubic meters a year, while consumption of liquefied gas will rose from 192,000 tonnes (in mid 2009) to 638,000 tonnes by the end of 2012.

Currently, Uzbekistan has about 2.3 million vehicles, consuming gas, which is 10% of total registered vehicles n the country. Uzbekistan became absolute leader among the CIS countries on this figure.

The programme is financed due to attraction of foreign loans and direct investments, funds of the state budget and own resources of Uzbekneftegaz. Uzbekneftegaz specialists calculated that the programme helped Uzbekistan to save 4.2 billion literes of petroleum in 2008.

Annual growth of automobile fleet in Uzbekistan makes up about 30%. If the growth rate remains in this level, the share of vehicles, consuming alternative fuel, will increase to 19% by 2012.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, production of liquidized gas in Uzbekistan made up 246,100 tonnes (down 0.7% year-on-year). In 2007, Uzbekistan produced 237,600 tonnes of liquefied gas, which is up by 6.5% year-on-year (223,100 tonnes). Average monthly production of liquefied gas by the Uzbek enterprises makes up 23,000 tonnes.