The numbers come from a presidential-office statement of 3 August, carried by The Times of Central Asia on Tuesday morning.
“Most of this demand will be met by domestic oil refineries,” the presidential office said on 3 August.
The arithmetic is tight. Uzbekneftegaz’s production target for the whole of 2026 is 310,000 tonnes, against 375,000 tonnes of demand in the second half alone. The periods do not match, and the difference is the import story.
Enter Georgia and Iraq. Batumi Oil Terminal resumed handling European aviation fuel in July, per the same report. Russian deliveries to the region in June came to 3,800 tonnes, down more than 92% from May.
The demand is already flying. Uzbekistan flew 64,831 flights in the first half, up 8%, with 8.15 million passengers, up 16%. Tashkent’s airport alone handled 40,283 flights and 5.36 million passengers. Tourists: 6.57 million, up 24.9%. The squeeze has bitten once before: Uzbekistan Airways trimmed its Russia schedule in June over fuel supply, as Daryo reported at the time.
For the region the precedent matters more than the tonnage. Kyrgyzstan buys petrol through an intergovernmental exemption, Mongolia is rationing at the pump, and Uzbekistan, the one buyer here with refineries of its own, is arranging imports from the South Caucasus and the Middle East. One more corridor that used to start in Russia now starts somewhere else.