Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced that the state-owned company SOCAR has begun developing an oil field in Uzbekistan.

According to Aliyev, this marks a new stage in the development of energy cooperation among Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as he stated during a recent trilateral high-level meeting.

Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan has long collaborated with Turkmenistan in the energy sector, and now Uzbekistan has joined this partnership. SOCAR has signed a contract and commenced field development. “We hope that within the next year or two, we will achieve promising results. We all eagerly anticipate news about the opening of a major oil field in Uzbekistan,” the Azerbaijani leader said, as reported by the portal Report.az.

It should be recalled that in August 2024, Uzbekneftegaz and SOCAR signed a strategic partnership agreement in the oil and gas sector, after which the Azerbaijani company began geological exploration on the Ustyurt Plateau. On July 24 of this year, a production-sharing agreement was signed for this field, providing for seismic surveys, exploration, and subsequent hydrocarbon extraction.

According to the agreement, Uzbekistan will be able to fully replace imported oil and meet its domestic needs for the next 25 years. Gas produced under the project will be supplied to the domestic market, and the industrial sector will gain access to affordable, high-quality petroleum products.

The project is planned in three phases and is expected to attract approximately $2 billion in investment. Estimated reserves are 100 million tons of oil and 35 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Annual production is projected at around 5 million tons of oil, which is two and a half times the current import volumes.