Analysis of Natural Gas Market of Uzbekistan

Abstract

The research is going to provide an analysis of Uzbek and Central Asian natural gas markets, demonstrating the advantages and disadvantages that Central Asian Republics (CARs) have in contrast with each other. The infrastructure and pricing constraint persistent to the landlocked Central Asian region is discussed as well. The paper applies SWOT model for the country based comparative analysis with the particular emphasis on Uzbekistan and insights gained from the SWOT model, as the part of opportunity section, are further utilized for demonstrating opportunities available for expanding production and export of Uzbek natural gas. Even though Kazakhstan has the most significant natural gas reserves among the CARs, country still cannot catch up with the production levels of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The internal demand of Kazakh market for natural gas is much lower than the production capacity of the republic and this creates an opportunity of becoming a significant exporter of natural gas in the short-term period. 95-96 percent of natural gas consumed in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is imported from Uzbekistan. The natural gas produced in Uzbekistan covers the internal market demand, moreover, considering that the average annual production growth during the period of 1990-2008 has constituted 3.8 percent,...