Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – Uztransgaz together with ILG Business Consult GMBH (Germany) and ADB are launching a large-scale project Gas Master Plan.

The main goal of the Gas Master Plan (GMP) is to prepare a medium-term and long-term development strategy for the gas transportation infrastructure of Uzbekistan, which will contribute to the sustainable development of the country's gas potential, national and regional energy security in Central Asia, subsequently will become the basis for the creation of the Central Asian hub in Uzbekistan.

It should be noted that this work is carried out at the expense of grant funds from the Asian Development Bank as part of bilateral cooperation on the implementation of an investment project to modernize the republic’s gas transmission system.

 The following results are expected from the implementation of GMP:

 (I) regional medium-term (for 10 years) and National long-term (for 20 years) analysis of gas supply and demand, and scenarios of its transportation;

(II) planning of capital investments with the sequence of proposed priority investment projects and analysis of netback based on hydraulic analysis of the gas transportation and storage infrastructure in Uzbekistan;

(III) recommendations on creating an appropriate institutional structure in line with international best practices and promoting the marketing of the gas sector and the transformation of Uzbekistan into the energy center of Central Asia;

(Iv) a recommendation for an appropriate gas pricing policy (including transportation and storage tariffs) that ensures upstream production as well as security of downstream demand;

(V) analysis of the environmental impact of the natural gas sector and the impact of proposed investments to reduce these impacts (with emphasis on methane emissions and the contribution of leakage reduction, to Uzbekistan's nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement).

The project will involve 9 foreign as well as 3 local experts in the field of oil and gas, energy in 7 areas of activity.

As a key part of the plan, a GMP model (GMPM) will be prepared for updating and exploring alternative scenarios for the development of the gas sector and its economic consequences.