Uzbekistan plans to create a free market for liquefied natural gas

Uzbekistan plans to create a free market for liquefied natural gas, introduce energy passports for each mahalla, and expand digital services for energy consumers. This was announced by Energy Minister Sherzod Khodjayev in an interview with the O'zbekiston 24 television channel. The announcement followed President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's review of a report on the implementation of instructions given at a videoconference on the fuel and energy sector on July 27.

According to the minister, an energy passport will be developed for each mahalla. This document will contain information on the number and categories of consumers, the condition of electricity and gas networks, the necessary costs for their repair and modernization, and the potential for connecting new subscribers. If the existing infrastructure is insufficient, the passport will include measures for network expansion.

Another focus will be improving interactions between electricity and natural gas suppliers and the public and businesses. Khodjayev noted that the current mechanisms for processing requests need to be modernized. There are plans to develop online platforms and integrate them with information and billing systems. This will allow users to access information about outstanding debts and access other services via a mobile app.

The mobile app will also be used to receive messages about power and gas supply outages, reducing the need to contact call centers. At the same time, there are plans to increase the number of operators and improve the efficiency of processing calls.

The minister emphasized that special attention will be paid to reducing losses in electricity and natural gas supplies, reducing outstanding debt, and improving the efficiency of the industry. To this end, digital technologies and artificial intelligence tools will be used more actively to assign tasks to employees, analyze risks, identify areas with increased accident rates, and predict potential outages. He added that this will enable proactive decisions on capacity expansion and infrastructure modernization.

Developing a competitive environment in the energy market is a separate focus area. Specifically, the goal is to create a free market for liquefied natural gas. To this end, it is planned to revise current technical regulations and simplify the sale of imported liquefied gas to individuals and businesses, while maintaining current safety requirements.