Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
Inefficiency in the energy sector, mainly resulting from the use of outdated 
technology, is a major contributor to energy resource depletion. Outdated 
energy processing and delivery systems led to losses of more than 60% of 
the primary energy mobilized to provide energy services (World Bank 2013). 
Losses from conversion, transport, and distribution of natural gas amounted to 
1.12 kilotons of oil equivalent (ktoe) or about 3.2% of gas supply,
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while losses 
from gas flaring have been estimated for 2011 at $500 million or 3% of GDP 
(World Bank 2013). Use of obsolete district heating technology is another 
source of energy loss from Uzbekistan’s seven large-scale district-heating 
centers. The heat generation and distribution systems are inefficient and are 
operating beyond the average 50 years of useful life.
Uzbekistan has rich fossil fuel energy resources composed of natural gas 
(proven reserves of 1.6 trillion cubic meters), oil (proven reserves of 80.8 
million tons), and coal (proven reserves of 1.4 billion tons). Given the 
2017 production rate, the reserves-to-production ratios are estimated at
27 years for natural gas, 34 years for oil, and 302 years for coal (ADB 2012). 
The estimated generation capacity for thermal and hydropower was about
14.3 gigawatts (GW) as of 2017 (Table 2.6). The primary energy supply in 2018 
was 41.4 million tons of oil equivalent. The country relied on natural gas for 
88% of its primary energy supply, on oil for 7%, and on hydro and biomass for 
the rest. Uzbekistan is the fourth-largest producer of natural gas in the Europe 
and Central Asia region
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in 2016.
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Table 2.6: Energy Reserves, Uzbekistan, 2017
Resource
Proven Reserves
Estimated Generation 
Capacity
Natural gas
1,542 bcm
Oil
80.8 million tons
Coal
1,375 million tons
Thermal
12.4 GW
Hydropower
1.9 GW
bcm = billion cubic meters, GW = gigawatt.
Source: Enerdata. https://www.enerdata.net/ (accessed 9 August 2019). 
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Enerdata. Global Energy & CO
2
Data. https://www.enerdata.net/expertise/energy-co2-data.html (accessed 9 
August 2019). 
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Europe and Central Asia includes Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe 
Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle 
of Man, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, the Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, 
Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the 
Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, 
Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan. 
7
Enerdata. 
www.enerdata.net (accessed 9 August 2019).

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