On May 17, 2011 Tashkent hosted an international roundtable “Prospects for the Central Asian oil and gas sector in relation to the current global challenges”. The event was organized by the Center for Political Studies in collaboration with national holding company (NHK) “Uzbekneftegaz” and international exhibition company ITE-Exhibitions & Conferences Ltd. (UK) and ITE Uzbekistan.
The event was attended by local and
foreign experts of high-level scientific and analytical structures, relevant
agencies specializing in oil and gas industry, economic and energy security,
international politics, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps,
international organizations and energy companies that are accredited in
Tashkent. Moreover, representatives of the leading energy corporations and
international profile organizations such as Tethys, Petronas, Total SA, Repsol,
Platts, Wartsila, WorleyParsons, Tenaris, CGGVeritas, Technip, etc, were
amongst the roundtable participants.
The roundtable was dedicated to
consideration of the current situation in the global energy market, prospects
for oil and gas sector in Central Asia within the current global financial and
economic processes. As it was noted, currently there is a gradual global
economic recovery. Despite the relative stabilization of the global
energy market, there are a number of factors that concern the future of the
global energy sector.
The roundtable participants expressed
their views on recent events in the Middle East and North Africa together with
the crisis around the nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 in Japan as well as the
continuing concerns over acute financial and economic difficulties in the U.S.
and some European countries. This certainly had a significant influence on
further development of world energy and the economy as a whole. In this
context, special attention was paid to the oil and gas sector in Central Asia. The roundtable participants agreed
that today's fuel and energy complex of the region demonstrates a dynamic and
sustainable development. The large number of promising deposits of hydrocarbons, as well as an
extensive network of transport infrastructure contributes to becoming of Central
Asia as one of the key regions in the global oil and gas supplies. In the light
of that, the experts noted the success of Central Asia in diversification of supplies and transit, which in
turn, helps to strengthen energy security in the region.
As was noted, for the Central Asian segment of the
global energy an evaluation of growth prospects of European and Chinese markets
has a particular topicality, because they currently are the main consumers of
oil and natural gas from Central Asia. Future plans to expand the supply and
thus attract investment in exploration and development of new deposits,
construction of additional pipeline capacities are directly associated with
these countries. Besides, it is utmost credible that if the instability in the
Arab world will continue to persist, it could boost the attractiveness of more
sustainable energy sector of Central Asia for international investors.
Experts of the roundtable emphasized
the efforts of Uzbekistan on further development of the national energy sector.
In particular, these are the development of new deposits and increase of
technological capacity in such areas as GTL, oil- and gas-chemical industry.
The discussion also came across the
issues of development of renewable energy, introducing energy-saving
technologies and environmental protection.
