Specialists from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have begun joint restoration of an underground gas storage facility in the Uzbek enclave of Sokh, RIA Novosti reports with reference to Uztransgaz JSC.
“On the Uzbek side, a working group was formed, which visited the Kadamzhai district of the Kyrgyz Republic on April 10 to study issues as part of research on the project,” the report says.
The main part of the storage is located on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, and the compressor station is located in Uzbekistan. In total, the storage holds up to 3 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 1.3 billion of gas could be taken by Uzbekistan in winter.
The Northern Sokh gas storage facility is located between the Rishtan district of the Fergana region and the Kadamzhai district of the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan. Previously, this territory was disputed. The solution of the issue of joint use of the gas storage facility has become much easier after the completion of the process of delimitation and demarcation of the state border between the states.
The two countries successfully resolved the issue of delimitation and demarcation of the state border last year by signing an agreement under which Uzbekistan received land under the Kempir-Abad reservoir with an area of 4,485 hectares, and about 15,000 hectares of pastures passed to Kyrgyzstan.
The parliaments of both states ratified the agreement. The delimitation process was completed in January 2023, after Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Sadyr Japarov exchanged instruments of ratification.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
April 11, 2023