ASTANA, October 4. /TASS/. The Kazakh authorities plan to start transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan by the end of October, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev told a briefing.

"Repair operations underway on Kazakh territory are currently being completed. They are connected with construction works, with separating a line for metering of gas. I think that as those works are completed we will be able to announce the beginning of transit shortly," he said when asked when Russian gas would be supplied to Uzbekistan.

"The works are to be completed by the end of this year as scheduled," the minister added.

Satkaliyev told reporters this August that the Kazakh authorities were discussing transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan in the amount from 1.5 bln to 10 bln cubic meters. Transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan is cost-effective for Kazakhstan as the republic will receive additional revenues, he added.

Russia offered creating a 'trilateral gas union' to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan last November for coordinating the three countries’ commercial interests in this area. In January 2023, energy ministries of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed a cooperation plan with Gazprom. The Kazakh side said that it would rely on this proposal’s economic viability, adding that it did not see any political context in the project.