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Key Moments In Mirziyoev’s Gas Ties With Russia

  • September 6, 2016

    Russian President Vladimir Putin holds talks with Shavkat Mirziyoev, then the Uzbek prime minister, in Samarkand days after late Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov is buried. The Uzbek parliament names Mirziyoev acting president two days later.

  • September 22, 2016

    Mirziyoev transfers control of major gas fields in the Ustyurt region to Gazprom, whose CEO, Aleksei Miller, held talks with Uzbekneftegaz Chairman Alisher Sultanov in Moscow a week earlier.

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  • March 9, 2017

    Mirziyoev approves a $3.9 billion program to boost oil-and-gas production to be operated by Natural Gas-Stream, founded the previous year as a 50-50 joint venture between a Swiss subsidiary of Gazprom and Uzbekneftegaz.

  • April 5, 2017

    Uzbekistan signs a $5.8 billion deal with a Swiss-based Gazprom subsidiary and the Cypriot offshore firm Altmax Holding to develop gas fields with an estimated 100 billion cubic meters in reserves in the southeastern Surxondaryo region and build a gas-chemical complex.

  • May 3, 2017

    Mirziyoev signs a decree on the start of gas production at the M25 gas field in southeastern Uzbekistan operated by Surhan Gas Chemical, owned by Gazprom’s Swiss subsidiary and Altmax Holding.

  • May 10, 2017

    Mirziyoev grants Natural Gas-Stream, the joint venture founded by a Gazprom subsidiary and Uzbekneftegaz, rights to export all natural gas extracted under an exploration deal at the Sechankol, Oqjar, and Chimboi investment blocks, and to develop the the Urga, Oqchalak, and Chandir gas fields.

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  • May 25, 2018

    Uzbekneftegaz signs an agreement to expand the Gazli underground gas-storage facility in southwestern Uzbekistan with Forus, a Russian firm founded a year earlier by a legal assistant linked to Russian tycoon and Kremlin insider Gennady Timchenko.

  • May 25, 2018

    Uzbekneftegaz signs an agreement to expand the Gazli underground gas-storage facility in northwestern Uzbekistan with Forus, a Russian firm founded a year earlier by a Russian legal assistant linked to Russian tycoon and Kremlin insider Gennady Timchenko.

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  • October 18, 2018

    During Putin’s state visit to Uzbekistan, Mirziyoev’s government and Gazprom sign a production-sharing agreement for the Djel gas field in western Uzbekistan.

  • June 17, 2019

    Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov issues a guarantee that production-sharing agreements signed with Gazprom and its subsidiaries since 2004 will remain in force.

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  • November 10, 2021

    Uzbekneftegaz issues a $700 million eurobond on the London Stock Exchange, around $500 million of which is earmarked to pay Gazprombank loans and finance projects for Gazprom-related companies.

  • November 29, 2022

    Putin proposes a gas alliance between Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan during talks with Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.

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