Gazprom CEO Miller, Kazakh Deputy PM Sklyar discuss supplies, transit of Russian gas

MOSCOW. Jan 18 (Interfax) - Gazprom CEO and executive board chairman Alexei Miller and Kazakhstan's First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar held a working meeting on Wednesday in St. Petersburg.

"The parties reviewed the current issues of cooperation in the gas industry. The main focus was on developing collaboration in the area of supplying and transporting Russian natural gas," Gazprom said in a statement.

Miller and Sklyar last held a meeting on November 30, 2023.

As reported, Gazprom and JSC QazaqGaz signed an agreement in June 2023 on providing services to transport Russian natural gas through Kazakhstan for consumers in Uzbekistan. The ceremony to launch supplies of Russian natural gas along the route took place in October 2023. Supplies are organized in reverse mode along a specially designated route via the Central Asia-Center main gas pipeline system.

Gazprom and the Kazakh government signed an agreement on strategic cooperation in November 2023. The goal of the document is to develop cooperation in the area of supplying, transporting and processing natural gas, as well as conducting geological exploration for and producing natural gas.

Miller previously reported that there are plans in the summer of 2024 to sign medium-term fifteen-year contracts with Kazakhstan, as well as with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, for supplying gas, with implementation of the contracts expected in the autumn of 2025.