LONDON (Reuters) – Uzbekistan has halted exports of natural gas in order to meet domestic energy needs, the Interfax agency reported on Thursday.
The announcement comes as protests rage in neighbouring Kazakhstan, spurred initially by gas price hikes.
“For now, exports of gas have been completely halted and all the volumes are being directed towards domestic use, particularly to meet the population’s needs,” Uzbekistan’s energy ministry was quoted as saying.
The ministry also said there were no exports of gas to Russia and no export plans for 2022.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt; writing by Sujata Rao)