Kazakhstan is ready to increase the transit of Russian natural gas to Uzbekistan, energy minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov told reporters on 10 June. He said the infrastructure on the Kazakh side is in place, that Russia and Uzbekistan are in direct negotiations, and that annual transit volumes could rise toward 11 billion cubic metres. “As a transit country, we are ready to ensure transportation,” he said.
The flow began in October 2023 with about 1.3 billion cubic metres, reached 5.6 billion in 2024 and was projected near 7.3 billion in 2025. It travels through the Soviet-era Central Asia-Center pipeline, built to carry Central Asian gas north to Russia and now reversed to push Russian gas south. The driver is Uzbekistan’s falling domestic output and rising demand, which have turned a former exporter into an importer.
The Soviet-era pipeline that once carried Central Asian gas north now runs the other way.
Kazakhstan earns transit revenue and presents itself as the region’s energy corridor. The arrangement also deepens Russia’s role in Central Asia’s gas balance at a time when the region talks about diversifying away from it, a tension that runs under much of the area’s energy policy.