In 2023, Uzbekistan’s gas production fell by 9.6% (4.97 bn cubic metres) to 46.7 bn cubic metres. Despite an overall decrease, December 2023 saw a production surge to 3.95 bn cubic metres, still 9% (395.1 mn cubic metres) lower than December 2022.
Electricity and coal production increase
Electricity production increased by 4.3%, or 3.2 bn kWh, year-on-year, from 73.7 bn to 76.9 bn kWh. In December, 7.3 bn kWh was generated - the highest since May. By comparison, 1.7 times less energy was produced in December 2022 (4.3 bn). About 80-85% of the electricity produced in the country comes from thermal power plants, which run on gas, but their share is decreasing with the introduction of new photovoltaic capacity.
Coal production exceeded the previous year’s figure by 15.5%, with the volume rising to 6.2 mn tonnes. At the same time, 456,700 tonnes of coal were produced in December 2023, the lowest since March (307,100), but less than the volume for December 2022 (543,000 tonnes). In July-November, output did not fall below 600 tonnes.
Oil production falls, gasoline and diesel output Rises
Oil production fell from 787,800 to 770,100 tonnes (-2.3%, or 17,700 tonnes). Production fell for the fifth consecutive month, from 64,700 tonnes in July to 60,800 in December, the lowest in two years. By comparison, oil production in December 2022 was 66,600 tonnes.
For 2023, 1.33 mn tonnes of motor gasoline were produced, up 6% or 75,400 tonnes compared to 2022. In December, 117,600 tonnes of this fuel were produced, down 15.7% from the previous year.
Diesel output rose 26.6%, or 212,400 tonnes to 1.01 mn tonnes.
Heat and gas condensate production decrease
Heat production fell by 8.1%, or from 26.5 to 24.4 mn Gcal, while gas condensate production fell by 6.9%, or from 1.29 to 1.2 mn tonnes.
Industrial production grows despite energy sector challenges
Despite problems in the energy sector, according to the Statistics Agency, industrial production grew by 6%.
Due to a 3-fold decrease in tax rates on natural gas, and a 2-fold decrease in tax rates on oil and gas condensate, Uzbekistan’s state budget will not receive UZS 538.1 bn ($43.6 mn) of tax for subsoil use in 2022. At the same time that year, gas production fell by 4%, and gas condensate - by 2.8%. Oil production increased by only 1.8%.
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