Europe Seeks Energy Ties With Tashkent
Europe Seeks Energy Ties With Tashkent
European states are increasingly engaging with gas-rich Uzbekistan in the hope of securing energy supplies, although analysts doubt the country will acquire any alternatives to exporting through Russian-owned pipelines in the near future.
Talks between the state oil and gas company Uzbekneftegaz and a delegation from the European Commission department for foreign economic ties showed that both sides were prepared to talk further about possible areas for cooperation.
According to a press release issued by Uzbekneftegaz in early November, this is likely to include modernising the country’s pipeline network and other parts of the gas industry’s infrastructure, and making the transport system safer and more transparent.
Uzbekistan’s 15,000 kilometres of pipelines were laid in the 1960s, when it was a still a republic within the Soviet Union. Analysts say the system has become decrepit and inefficient.
“If the gas transport system is refurbished, the investment will pay for itself within two to five years by saving gas and safer use,” said Tashpulat Yoldashev, an Uzbek political analyst based abroad. “Europe wants to help and will provide loans.”
Yoldashev believes that if the EU engages with Uzbekistan in the energy sector, it will contribute to resolving other regional problems. For instance, he says, it will facilitate arrangements for transporting freight through Central Asia for NATO operations in Afghanistan.
Other NBCentral Asia observers note that the energy discussions turn a new page in EU-Uzbek relations. In October, EU foreign ministers lifted the last of the sanctions they imposed on Uzbekistan in 2005 over the government’s refusal to allow an independent investigation into the violence in Andijan in May that year.
International isolation reduced Tashkent’s opportunities to build economic ties. The first signs of change came in a new EU strategy approved in 2007, focusing on energy cooperation with the Central Asian states.
When Bulgarian president Georgi Prvanov visited Tashkent in November last year, he suggested Uzbekistan become part of the Nabucco project, a pipeline which would run from Turkey to Europe, avoiding Russian territory. Nabucco could be connected to another planned pipeline, this time running under the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan. Theoretically, Uzbek gas could be fed into the Turkmen end of that network.
Uzbekistan is the world’s eighth-largest gas producer, producing 60 billion cubic metres a year in addition to eight million tons of oil.
Currently, Uzbek gas exports are handled by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which owns the Central Asia-Centre pipeline.
“For Tashkent, the emergence of the EU as a partner capable of refurbishing its gas pipelines is just another opportunity to show Moscow that there are others able to do what it does,” said Dilmurod Kholmatov, an economist in Tashkent.
Kholmatov says that while both sides might benefit from a direct supply route from Uzbekistan to Europe, it will not be feasible in the next five years because none of the infrastructure is in place.
Viktor Ivonin, another Uzbek economist, believes the country should also be encouraging European investment in opening up new oil and gas deposits.
“Oil and gas projects are very cost-intensive; they need massive spending,” he said. “It would therefore be very much to Uzbekistan’s advantage if the Europeans invested in promising areas like the still unexplored Ustyurt Plateau and the dried-up Aral seabed.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
Talks between the state oil and gas company Uzbekneftegaz and a delegation from the European Commission department for foreign economic ties showed that both sides were prepared to talk further about possible areas for cooperation.
According to a press release issued by Uzbekneftegaz in early November, this is likely to include modernising the country’s pipeline network and other parts of the gas industry’s infrastructure, and making the transport system safer and more transparent.
Uzbekistan’s 15,000 kilometres of pipelines were laid in the 1960s, when it was a still a republic within the Soviet Union. Analysts say the system has become decrepit and inefficient.
“If the gas transport system is refurbished, the investment will pay for itself within two to five years by saving gas and safer use,” said Tashpulat Yoldashev, an Uzbek political analyst based abroad. “Europe wants to help and will provide loans.”
Yoldashev believes that if the EU engages with Uzbekistan in the energy sector, it will contribute to resolving other regional problems. For instance, he says, it will facilitate arrangements for transporting freight through Central Asia for NATO operations in Afghanistan.
Other NBCentral Asia observers note that the energy discussions turn a new page in EU-Uzbek relations. In October, EU foreign ministers lifted the last of the sanctions they imposed on Uzbekistan in 2005 over the government’s refusal to allow an independent investigation into the violence in Andijan in May that year.
International isolation reduced Tashkent’s opportunities to build economic ties. The first signs of change came in a new EU strategy approved in 2007, focusing on energy cooperation with the Central Asian states.
When Bulgarian president Georgi Prvanov visited Tashkent in November last year, he suggested Uzbekistan become part of the Nabucco project, a pipeline which would run from Turkey to Europe, avoiding Russian territory. Nabucco could be connected to another planned pipeline, this time running under the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan. Theoretically, Uzbek gas could be fed into the Turkmen end of that network.
Uzbekistan is the world’s eighth-largest gas producer, producing 60 billion cubic metres a year in addition to eight million tons of oil.
Currently, Uzbek gas exports are handled by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which owns the Central Asia-Centre pipeline.
“For Tashkent, the emergence of the EU as a partner capable of refurbishing its gas pipelines is just another opportunity to show Moscow that there are others able to do what it does,” said Dilmurod Kholmatov, an economist in Tashkent.
Kholmatov says that while both sides might benefit from a direct supply route from Uzbekistan to Europe, it will not be feasible in the next five years because none of the infrastructure is in place.
Viktor Ivonin, another Uzbek economist, believes the country should also be encouraging European investment in opening up new oil and gas deposits.
“Oil and gas projects are very cost-intensive; they need massive spending,” he said. “It would therefore be very much to Uzbekistan’s advantage if the Europeans invested in promising areas like the still unexplored Ustyurt Plateau and the dried-up Aral seabed.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
