Tashkent and Bishkek are set to restart the Northern Sokh underground gas storage, located in the Uzbek enclave on Kyrgyz territory, "Uztransgaz" informs.
According to the company, a working group was created from the Uzbek side, which visited the Kadamzhai region of Kyrgyzstan on April 10 and studied this project.
The main part of the storage is located on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, and the compressor station is located in Uzbekistan.
It contains up to 3bn cubic meters of blue fuel, of which 1.3bn could be used by Uzbekistan in winter.
The ministries of Energy of both countries signed a roadmap for the resumption of the joint operation of the underground gas storage during the official visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Kyrgyz Republic in February 2022.
According to the Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov, the total volume of "Northern Sokh" is about 2.5-3bn cubic meters. About 1.3bn cubic meters of gas can be used from these reserves, the remainder stays in the buffer zone (neutral area).
For reference, the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan requested State Property Management Fund to transfer this gas storage to the Ministry of Energy of Kyrgyzstan earlier in June 2022.
The Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Zhaparov signed a resolution on the establishment of the state enterprise "Kyrgyztransneftegaz" under the Ministry of Energy.
In November 2022, Zhaparov announced that this facility was transferred to the state enterprise Kyrgyzgaztrans.
The head of the Kyrgyz Cabinet confirmed that Bishkek offers Uzbekistan joint use of the gas storage facility.
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