Uzbekistan has announced a new batch of energy-related deals with US companies collectively worth upwards of $4 billion.
Uzbek Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov told the Uzbekiston 24 TV channel that the government has signed a series of agreements with Pennsylvania-based Air Products to accelerate the Central Asian nation’s “green transition.”
According to the company’s website, Air Products aims “to generate a cleaner future” by serving a “broad range of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food, providing essential industrial gases, technologies and applications expertise.”
Air Products will speed up the construction of a petrochemical complex in Bukhara and will be involved in the development of a variety of coal gasification initiatives and the refining of “clean” jet fuel, according to a report published by the government-connected UzDaily information service. The minister described the deals as “investments,” not purchases.
Mirzamakhmudov also disclosed deals with two major Houston-based energy services companies, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes. Those agreements cover “the implementation of modern technologies, experience and management methods,” the UzDaily report stated. In addition, Uzbek officials have inked a memorandum of understanding with Gulf Oil to develop a network of automobile gas stations across the country.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States is ready to open an $852 million line of credit to support various projects, the Uzbek energy minister claimed.
On a late September visit to New York, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced a number of deals, including an $8 billion contract to purchase Boeing passenger jets. During a brief meeting with US President Donald Trump, the Uzbek leader expressed an overall intention to conclude business deals with US firms worth about $105 billion.
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