Licenses of the Saneg company for oil fields in Uzbekistan revoked — head of the State Assets Management Agency

The licenses previously granted to the Sanoat Energetika Guruhi (Saneg) company for the use of oil fields have been revoked because the established conditions were not fulfilled. This was announced by the director of the State Assets Management Agency (SAMA), Sohibjon Murodov, at a press conference held on October 8.

The statement was made in response to a question about on what basis the oil fields were handed over to the private company Saneg without an open auction or tenders.

Murodov explained that the fields themselves had not been transferred into private ownership.

"The field is still a natural resource; it is not privatized or given to any private individual. But we grant the right to use the subsoil, that is, a license is issued. The license for the right to use this subsoil was granted to this company. Similar practice exists with other companies as well," he said.

The head of SAMA cited as the basis Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 133 of March 25, 2022, which establishes the procedure for granting the right to use subsoil.Advertising on Gazeta

According to him, previously the field-use license could be granted to the first applicant who made the payment stipulated by law. The payment amount was set taking into account the characteristics of the subsoil.

Later, the permitting mechanism was changed.

"Later a new practice was introduced. The right to issue licenses for hydrocarbons was also moved to auction. This was something carried out step by step from 2023–2024," Murodov said.

Answering a question about the current state of the fields for which Saneg had previously obtained licenses, he said:

"As far as I know, today these have been revoked because the fields were not put into operation and the license conditions were not fulfilled. Currently, the Ministry of Geology is developing measures for their more effective use."

At the same time, the SAMA director did not clarify exactly how many licenses were revoked, which fields were in question, when the relevant decisions were adopted, and how many subsoil plots remained in Saneg's use.

Saneg's official website states that the company holds the right to use 103 oil and gas fields for which licenses for geological study and extraction of minerals have been formalized.

Context

We recall that in 2019, more than 100 fields were transferred from Uzbekneftegaz to the management of Jizzakh Petroleum (the current Saneg) by a closed government decision. The transfer of the fields was linked to a project to increase oil production for 2020–2030, which envisaged investing $2.68 billion, drilling 800 new wells and capital repairs of 500 more.

As Gazeta previously reported, in 2019 a working group formed on the president's initiative warned that most of the transferred fields belonged to reserves that were difficult to extract, which increased the risk of failing to achieve the expected results and of the investments not being recouped. Saneg reported that 545.4 thousand tons of oil were extracted based on 2022 results, whereas the program design indicated 614.7 thousand tons.

In April 2026, Uzbekneftegaz's chief geologist Nodir Muhiddinov reported that production volumes at the oil and gas fields transferred from Uzbekneftegaz to Saneg initially increased but later began to decline. According to him, further decisions would be made based on the results of an inspection. "A special commission has been formed; further measures on them will be considered based on the results of this commission's work, based on its conclusions," he said at the time.

The transfer of the fields also became one of the episodes in a criminal case initiated against former Uzbekneftegaz chairman Bakhodirjon Sidikov and other individuals. It was implicatedAccording to the prosecution, initially 106 fields were given for temporary use without final contracts being formalized, and later their sale was envisaged with payment in installments over 10 years. The investigation believes that the value of the assets was reduced to approximately 90 billion soums, and that because rights to certain fields were not re-registered in time, Uzbekneftegaz paid approximately 10.4 billion soums in land tax for Saneg in 2023–2025.

Sidikov rejected the accusations. He said the transfer of the fields was envisaged in a Cabinet of Ministers resolution adopted before his appointment to the post. According to him, the differences in value were related to a change in the VAT rate. The installment payment terms were also set by a government decision, taking into account Uzbekneftegaz's obligations to international creditors.

In January, the government of Uzbekistan made a decision on the saleof the non-core assets of the group of companies Enter Engineering, Eriell Group and Sanoat Energetika Guruhi (Saneg) associated with businessman Bakhtiyor Fazilov. It was stated that this would be done to cover debts to employees, the budget and banks.