TASHKENT, Feb 7 (AFP) - Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Monday it would buy natural gas from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan this year, signaling a move to cope with rising foreign demand.
The purchase of about five billion cubic metres (175 billion cubic feet) of natural gas, agreed at a meeting with officials of the Uzbek state firm Uztransgas, is part of a deal spanning the years 2003 until 2012 that was signed in 2002, Gazprom said in a written statement.
That deal followed signs of difficulties encountered by Gazprom in keeping up with rising European demand from its fields in Russia. Gazprom's exports to western Europe and Turkey reached 107.32 billion cubic meters in 2004, a 13.7 percent increase on 2003, the company said last month.
Uzbekistan was the former Soviet Union's second-largest gas producer after Russia, although it now finds itself in competition with neighbouring Turkmenistan, whose gas reserves are much larger.
At their recent meeting, Gazprom and Uzbek officials promised to cooperate on redeveloping the ageing gas transit system through Uzbekistan, on which Turkmenistan also relies, Gazprom said.
They will also push ahead with work on Uzbekistan's Ustyurt peninsula in the Aral Sea region, where Gazprom has begun developing the Shakhpakhty gas field, Gazprom said.
Gazprom appears to have smoother relations with the Uzbek leadership of President Islam Karimov than with that of Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov, who recently briefly cut off supplies to Russia and Ukraine, saying that his country was not being paid enough.
Uzbekistan is home to 1.62 trillion cubic metres of commercially useful natural gas, according to Gazprom.
Last year Uzbek gas exports to Russia totalled around seven billion cubic metres.
02/07/2005 15:28 GMT - AFP