Really, what for? After all, Gazprom is the largest gas company in the world, and it would seem that there is a lot of gas in Russia, as they say, “to the eyeballs”. But it’s not so simple.

Readers also asked such question to the editorial board of Argumenty i Fakty: “They write that Gazprom has stopped buying gas in Uzbekistan. Why did it do that at all?”

The answer to this question was given on the pages of the newspaper by the Deputy Director General of the National Energy Security Fund Alexey Grivach. ORIENT editorial Board decided that our readers will also be interested to find out what Gazprom’s interest in Central Asian gas is. Therefore, we present the expert’s answer completely unchanged.

“Central Asia and Azerbaijan have been connected to Russia by a system of gas pipelines since Soviet times. And in many cases, it is more convenient to deliver fuel to our southern regions and the Lower Volga region from these countries than from Siberia, – says Alexey Grivach, Deputy Director General of the National Energy Security Fund. – But according to the documents such deliveries are not considered to be import. Just in exchange, some of the Siberian gas goes to the “far abroad” under export contracts of the “near abroad” partners.”

In addition, Gazprom helps our neighbors. For example, in the past, some of the Turkmen and Uzbek gas was supplied to Kazakhstan via Russian pipelines. It was difficult for these countries to agree directly. And the gas that is purchased in Kazakhstan, before entering the export portfolio, goes to the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant, ensuring its loading. The scale of Russian purchases is changing. Currently, they are conducted only in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Nury AMANOV