Abnormal cold revealed an acute shortage of gas in Uzbekistan

Severe frosts in Central Asia provoked an energy crisis in Uzbekistan. The Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan has deployed a network of field kitchens, providing hot food to citizens who are not able to cook on their own in conditions of abnormal frosts, and special heating points have been opened on the streets. The dependence of Uzbekistan’s energy sector on natural gas, which is a key fuel for the country’s energy supply system, led to the situation: almost all Uzbek thermal power plants run on gas.

Frosts began in Uzbekistan on January 11: the temperature dropped to -16 degrees Celsius compared to the average winter temperature of +6 degrees. On January 16, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev dismissed the hokim (mayor) of Tashkent, Jahongir Artykhodzhaev, for unsatisfactory preparations for the winter season, the presidential press service reported. In his opinion, the reasons for the crisis were the lack of systematic work and cases of theft of energy resources. In addition to the Tashkent mayor, Deputy Minister of Energy Sherzod Khodjaev and Chairman of the State Joint-Stock Company “Thermal Power Plants” Farhod Abdurakhmonov were dismissed from their posts.