Currently, Gazprom International produced about 280 million cubic meters of gas at Shakhpakhti field, which is located at northern-western Uzbekistan. The growth rate made up almost 40% compared the same period of 2011.

During 2012, Gazprom International experts overhauled and put into operation five new wells. So, currently the company runs 16 wells at the deposit and produces in average 956,000 cubic meters of gas a day. Overall, it is planned to restore 19 wells within the project.

Total volume of gas, produced at Shakhpakhti field since 2004, currently makes up 2.1 billion cubic meters.

The Shakhpakhti deposit, opened in 1962, is located in the south-eastern part of the Ustyurt plateau in the Kungrad region of Kara-Kalpak. Geological exploration revealed the presence in the deposit of initial reserves of 46.5 billion cubic metres of industrial-quality gas.

The deposit was brought into development in 1971. All in all, 48 wells have been drilled here - of these, 14 are exploratory, one is parametric and 33 are production wells. Industrial production began in 1974 at a rate of 2.5 billion cubic metres per year.

A booster compressor station (BCS) was built in 1983, which in February 2002 was halted because it did not have enough power to supply the required pressure when feeding the supplied gas to the Kara-Kalpak compressor station:gas production was stopped, and the wells were removed from service.

In order to justify investment in Shakhpakhti’s re-development, a corresponding feasibility study was carried out in 2003, under production sharing conditions with subsequent creation of an underground gas storage system (UGS). In April 2004, the government of Uzbekistan approved the PSA project for Shakhpakhti, and Uzbekneftegaz was appointed as the body authorised to carry it out. A consortium made up of Zarubezhneftegaz (now Gazprom International) and the Swiss company Gas Project Development Central Asia AG. Given the strategic nature of Gazprom's relationship with the Uzbek side, the deposit was granted to the investor under the terms of a production sharing agreement without holding a public tender but based on direct negotiations. The PSA was signed by Uzbekneftegaz and members of the consortium on 14 April 2004, and became effective three months later.

In order to carry out the project, in May 2004 an operator - the operating company Zarubezhneftegaz GPD Central Asia - was created by members of the investment consortium. Its aims and objectives were defined as a package of studies and work aimed at the provision of facilities for gas along with its development, production and transportation, including the construction of infrastructure and transportation facilities, gas treating and storage, carrying out conservation measures, and also other activities directly connected with this work.

In August 2004, Zarubezhneftegaz-GPD Central Asia started work to reopen the wells and restore gas production, and a commercial flow was obtained from 10 wells. At the same time that production was resumed, the operating company started work on providing new facilities (reconstructing) at the deposit.