Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Geology, and Gazprom are planning to sign an agreement on Strategic Partnership.

A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Alisher Sultanov, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, took place today in St. Petersburg.

The parties expressed satisfaction with the progress of their joint work in the energy sector and discussed the state and prospects of their cooperation, including joint gas production projects based in Uzbekistan.

In addition, the parties discussed their future cooperation within the Agreement on Strategic Partnership that is planned to be signed between the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Geology, and Gazprom.

Gazprom’s main partner in Uzbekistan is Uzbekneftegaz, focused on oil and gas prospecting, production, processing, transportation, storage and marketing.

In 2017, Gazprom and Uzbekneftegaz signed the Agreement of Strategic Cooperation.

In May 2018, the companies inked the Supplementary Agreement No. 2 to the Production Sharing Agreement for the follow-up development of the Shakhpakhty field. According to the document, the parties will continue to produce gas until 2024.

Gazprom’s interests in Uzbekistan are represented by Gazprom EP International B.V., a specialized vehicle of Gazprom aimed at implementing hydrocarbon prospecting, exploration and development projects outside Russia. In October 2018, Gazprom EP International and the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan signed the Production Sharing Agreement with regard to the Dzhel natural gas field.