According to the Agency of Industrial Production Statistics, Uzbekistan’s gas production fell by 9.6% (4.97 billion cubic meters) last year compared to 2022, amounting to 46.7 billion cubic meters. Thus, the average monthly gas production is 3.89 billion cubic meters, while in 2022, 4.3 billion cubic meters of gas was produced per month.
In December, however, production has already increased to 3.95 billion cubic meters. This was the highest since April. However, it could not even come close to the figure for December 2022 – 4.35 billion cubic meters, which is up by 9% (395.1 million cubic meters).
However, thanks to gas supplies from Russia and Turkmenistan, the shortfall was bridged.
In 2023, however, electricity production increased significantly – from 73.7 billion to 76.9 billion kWh, i.e. by 3.19 billion kWh (4.3%). In December alone, 7.27 billion kWh were generated. If we start counting from May, this is the limit.
And this is despite the above-mentioned troubles with gas production, because about 80-85% of electricity in Uzbekistan is produced by thermal power plants, and they in turn operate on gas. However, their share in the country is decreasing due to the introduction of new capacities of photovoltaic power plants.
Also, coal production exceeded its previous figures – up to 6.19 million tons (15.5%). In December, for example, 456.7 thousand tons of coal were produced, and from July to November the figure did not fall below 600 tons.
And again to the bad: from 787.8 thousand to 770.1 thousand tons (-2.3%, or by 17.7 thousand tons) the oil production index decreased. And this decline was observed for the fifth month in a row – from 64.7 thousand tons in July to 60.8 thousand in December. This is the lowest figure for the last couple of years!
Nevertheless, Uzbekistan produced 75.4 thousand tons (6%) more motor gasoline in 2023 than in 2022. Diesel fuel output also increased by 212.4 thousand tons (26.6%) to 1.01 million tons.
At the same time, the indicator of heat energy production decreased from 26.5 to 24.4 million Gcal (by 8.1%), and gas condensate production decreased from 1.29 to 1.2 million tons (by 6.9%).
Nevertheless, no matter what problems in the energy sector put sticks in the wheels, according to the Agency of Statistics Uzbekistan managed to achieve a 6% growth in industrial production