The oil and gas presentation to Shavkat Mirziyoyev on 3 August carried 11.5 billion cubic metres of gas for the half-year and a claim that oil, diesel, kerosene and liquefied gas ran above forecast. Year-end plans: 1.1 million tonnes of gasoline, 983,000 tonnes of diesel, 310,000 tonnes of jet kerosene, 606,000 tonnes of liquefied gas, about 1.18 million tonnes of synthetic products. Uzbekgeophysics gets $38.8 million of new equipment; 3D seismic coverage is to grow from 1,800 to 5,000 square kilometres a year, survey depth from 4,500 to 8,000 metres, the list of prospective structures from 19 to 30. The president’s directive: stable, uninterrupted supply of petroleum products.
Two published numbers sit awkwardly beside the confidence. The statistics agency’s half-year bulletin, out the same day, shows national gas extraction at 18.3 billion cubic metres, down 16.4% on last year, with condensate down 19.7%; the presentation’s 11.5 billion reads as the company perimeter rather than the country’s, and the readout does not say. And the year plan of 310,000 tonnes of jet kerosene stands against 375,000 tonnes of demand claimed for the second half alone. The periods differ; the gap is why the import orders now run to Georgia and Iraq.
The readout is also the first sector-wide accounting to surface since Uzbekneftegaz’s 30 July board session passed without a published report. Four cycles of queries found nothing until the president’s office issued its own version.