Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Infrastructure in Uzbekistan has been prepared for the import of natural gas from Russia from 1 October, RIA Novosti reports.

“We are ready to accept Russian gas from 1 October. Our gas pipelines are adapted to receive high-pressure gas,” the source said, answering a question about the readiness of the infrastructure in the republic.

On 16 June, Gazprom signed a contract with the authorities of Uzbekistan at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum for the supply of natural gas to this country. Later, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic explained that the agreement was concluded for two years, deliveries are planned to begin on 1 October, the volume of purchases is about 2.8 billion cubic meters per year.

Earlier, the department reported that Russian gas would be supplied to Uzbekistan in reverse mode via the Central Asia - Center gas pipeline through Kazakhstan. This required the construction of a new gas measuring station on the territory of the republic. In addition, it was planned to build 22 kilometers of new gas pipelines, repair 56 kilometers of existing networks, and replace 14 different types of gas pumping devices. All work was planned to be completed by September.

The capacities of oil and gas enterprises in Uzbekistan now allow the annual production of about 70 billion cubic meters of natural gas and eight million tons of liquid hydrocarbons. But due to depletion of reserves and technological losses, hydrocarbon production has dropped significantly over the past 15 years. At the end of 2022, natural gas production in the republic decreased by four percent compared to 2021, to 51.665 billion cubic meters, oil production, in January-June 2023 - by 9.6 percent, to 23.565 billion cubic meters.