The key facts

  • Gas production over nine months amounted to 27 billion cubic meters — 16.4% less than a year earlier and almost 20% less than in the same period of 2024.
  • Uzbekneftegaz links the decline to the depletion of large fields: more than 80% of reserves have been extracted at some of them.
  • Electricity production grew 7.3% to 67.16 billion kWh; the share of small producers reached 33.9%.

Gas production continues to decline

In January–September 2026, Uzbekistan produced 27 billion cubic meters of natural gas — 16.4% (5.3 billion cubic meters) less than in the same period of 2025 (32.3 billion). Compared with January–September 2024 (33.7 billion), the decline reached almost 20%, or 6.7 billion cubic meters. In September, production amounted to about 2.8 billion cubic meters: 17.6% less than a year earlier, but 7.7% more than in August. Average daily production rose from 83.9 million cubic meters in August to 93.3 million in September, yet remains noticeably below last year's September level of 113.3 million cubic meters. The pace of the annual decline, after slowing in July (7.9%), accelerated again: about 26.4% in August and 17.6% in September.

Uzbekneftegaz names the cause — depletion of large fields

At a press conference on October 27, chief geologist of Uzbekneftegaz Nodir Mukhiddinov stated that one of the main reasons for the decline in production is the significant depletion of reserves at large fields: according to him, more than 80% of reserves have been extracted at some of them. New wells and geological exploration work, in his assessment, do not yet fully compensate for the decline in production at existing fields. He also reported that the baseline decline in production at operating fields since the beginning of the year has reached 12.6 million cubic meters per day; part of this volume has been recovered through repairs and the commissioning of new wells, but about 5 million cubic meters per day remain uncovered. Over the nine months, companies of the Uzbekneftegaz group produced about 17 billion cubic meters; by the end of the year the figure is planned to be brought to 22.8 billion, against 25.2 billion in 2025 — that is, annual production may fall by 2.4 billion cubic meters, or 9.5%. This forecast is below the president's January instruction to produce at least 25.4 billion cubic meters during the year. Earlier, in the updated Uzbekistan — 2030 strategy, the government planned to increase production from 40.2 billion cubic meters in 2026 to 48.5 billion by 2030.

Electricity: growth driven by small producers

Electricity production over nine months grew 7.3% — to 67.16 billion kWh, against 62.57 billion a year earlier. The generation structure is changing at the same time: large enterprises (mainly gas-fired thermal power plants) generated 44.4 billion kWh — 1.5% less than last year, while small producers, including new solar and wind plants, generated 22.76 billion kWh, 30.3% more. The share of small enterprises increased from 27.9% to 33.9%. The statistics do not take into account electricity produced by households and small enterprises for which generation is not their main activity.

Oil products, coal and oil

Motor gasoline production over nine months amounted to 913.2 thousand tons, 2.6% more than a year earlier, but the growth rate slowed: over seven months the increase was 8.9%, over eight — about 4.6%. In September, refineries produced about 101.9 thousand tons of gasoline — 28.3% more than August's 79.4 thousand tons after a sharp drop, but still below the July level of 117.7 thousand tons and last year's September figure. Diesel fuel production, by contrast, grew noticeably: over nine months — 979 thousand tons (+11.7%), with September output 60% above the level of September 2025; August–September accounted for about 30% of the annual volume. Coal production over nine months fell 6.9% to 5.4 million tons, and oil — 1.6% to 482.2 thousand tons, while in September oil production exceeded last year's level for the second month in a row. Gas condensate production fell 14.1% to 729.2 thousand tons. Heat output by large enterprises decreased 19.3% — from 14.42 million to 11.64 million Gcal.