Central Asian countries are adapting their energy strategies as Russia’s fuel sector comes under mounting pressure from Ukrainian drone attacks on oil infrastructure and continuing export restrictions.
The regional shift comes as Tajikistan reported a sharp decline in domestic petrol production, while Uzbekistan unveiled plans to expand refining capacity and increase aviation fuel output to meet growing demand.
According to Tajikistan’s Statistics Agency, the country produced just 304 tonnes of petrol during the first half of 2026, almost 15 times less than the more than 4,500 tonnes produced during the same period last year.
At the same time, crude oil production rose nine per cent year-on-year to more than 10,000 tonnes, highlighting the country’s limited refining capacity despite modest growth in upstream output.
Tajikistan remains heavily dependent on imported petroleum products, primarily from Russia, making it particularly vulnerable to disruptions in regional fuel supplies.
Russia’s energy industry has faced increasing strain following Ukrainian long-range drone strikes targeting oil refineries, fuel depots and transport infrastructure.
According to The Moscow Times, Russian oil refining fell to its lowest level in 24 years in July 2026, with refinery throughput dropping to around 3.6 million barrels per day. Eighteen refineries were reportedly struck during the month alone, forcing several facilities to suspend or reduce operations.
The disruptions have contributed to fuel shortages across parts of Russia, prompting Moscow to extend restrictions on fuel exports in an effort to stabilise domestic supplies. Last week, the Russian government extended its ban on petrol exports until 31 January 2027, while easing restrictions on diesel exports by producers from September.
Against that backdrop, Uzbekistan is focusing on strengthening domestic fuel production and modernising its oil and gas sector.
A report presented to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said demand for aviation fuel is expected to reach 375,000 tonnes in the second half of 2026, 27 per cent higher than a year earlier, driven by the growing number of international flights passing through Central Asia.
State-owned Uzbekneftegaz reported producing 11.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas during the first six months of the year, while output of oil, diesel, aviation fuel and liquefied gas exceeded planned targets.
By the end of 2026, the company aims to produce 1.1 million tonnes of petrol, 983,000 tonnes of diesel, 310,000 tonnes of aviation fuel, 606,000 tonnes of liquefied gas and nearly 1.2 million tonnes of synthetic products as part of a broader programme to modernise the country’s oil and gas industry.
The contrasting developments illustrate how Central Asian countries are responding differently to growing uncertainty in regional fuel markets, as governments seek to strengthen domestic production and reduce their exposure to supply disruptions.
Read more from Central Asia:
Peace is Armenia’s only reliable guarantee of security, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said in comments in Dublin, where he also...
Hungarian authorities have recovered nearly $20 million in cash hidden in buildings and buried in forests as part of a bribery investigation into M...
U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to hold a historic trilateral meeting in She...
Iran’s Assembly of Experts has backed withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and overhauling the country’s defence doctrine, calling both steps essential to national security and deterrence.
President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday to let European representatives join the next round of Ukraine peace talks while the United States continues to work towards what could become the largest prisoner exchange of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Microsoft struggled to restore its services on Friday after a major outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and Copilot across the United States and Asia-Pacific region.
Here's your AnewZ Technology Daily Brief for the 13th of November. This week, a Microsoft outage hit Australian agencies, Google restricted mapping data in South Korea, a lawsuit targeted advanced AI development, and Nvidia faced a leadership crisis after Jensen Huang's resignation.
Kazakhstan-linked hackers stole thousands of national security documents from Tajikistan, a cybersecurity company has said.
Peace is Armenia’s only reliable guarantee of security, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said in comments in Dublin, where he also commented that the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) alliance had failed to fulfil its obligations towards Yerevan.
Türkiye and Qatar signed a mutual defence agreement on Friday, November 13, aimed at strengthening collective security and regional stability. The two countries pledged to take a united stance against any external armed attack on either nation.
As Central Asia expands its hydropower infrastructure and high-rise construction, seismologists are examining whether large mountain reservoirs could influence earthquake activity. The question is particularly pressing in a region where major cities lie close to active tectonic faults.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes part of everyday life, languages with smaller speaker communities risk being left behind. Georgian, spoken by around four million people worldwide, is facing a digital challenge: making sure it is understood by the machines shaping how the world communicates.
Tajikistan has urged the international community to increase funding to protect shrinking glaciers and help mountain communities adapt to climate change at the COP31 UN climate summit in Antalya, Türkiye.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment