MOSCOW, Oct. 11Russia has practically found an alternative to the European markets and as cooperation progresses, supply volumes will increase, but Europe cannot yet cope without Russian fuel, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We have practically already found it. The volumes are still less than for the European continent, but they will increase as the economies of these countries grow. I don’t see any problems here. It’s just that the European countries cannot yet cope in full without our gas, they simply have nowhere to get it. It’s possible. «, probably, but even that is difficult. Even just physical volumes are not enough,» Putin said at a plenary session of the international forum «Russian Energy Week», answering a question from a forum participant about whether it can be said that Russia will one day find an alternative to European markets completely .
«We are all talking about buying American gas. But there, too, production volumes are limited and it is not so easy to promote everything,» — Putin added.
Speaking about gas supplies to Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan, Putin noted that this is an old Soviet gas pipeline.
“But it was never used in reverse mode, that is, in the opposite direction from Russia to these republics, so we had to work, and Gazprom worked for three months, and our colleagues, friends in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan restored this route and they launched it in reverse mode. These are small volumes for now, significant for these republics, but as their economies grow, they will not have enough of this volume, it’s already clear,” Putin said and added that Russia is now thinking about how to expand these supply volumes — build new routes or put these ones in order.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev launched the supply of Russian gas to Uzbekistan through the territory of Kazakhstan. Putin and Tokayev discussed the creation of a “triple gas alliance” in November last year. The participation of Uzbekistan was expected to coordinate actions in the transportation of Russian gas through the territories of the republics.
Gazprom reported that the export of Russian gas through the territory of Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan is planned to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023. The corresponding contract was signed in June by the head of Gazprom Alexey Miller and the Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov.
The Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan clarified that the republic has entered into a contract for the purchase of gas for two years, deliveries are planned to begin on October 1, the volume of purchases will be 9 million cubic meters per day — about 2.8 billion cubic meters per year. It was noted that Russian gas will be supplied to Uzbekistan in reverse mode via the Central Asia — Center gas pipeline system through Kazakhstan.
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