Listen to the article
The network of petroleum storage depots owned by Uzbekneftegaz joint-stock company has recorded a net profit for the first time in its history, turning around a loss of 108.3 billion soums in the first nine months of last year into a gain of 25.2 billion soums over the same period this year. The company’s information service attributed the reversal to an efficiency drive carried out under the direction of board chairman Abdugani Sanginov.
The scale of the turnaround is striking. At the start of the year only three of the depots were profitable; by the end of the nine-month reporting period that number had risen to 13. Sales volumes through the depots reached 191,000 tonnes of petroleum products — 1.7 times the figure recorded in the equivalent period of the previous year. Daily fuel sales at the company’s filling stations climbed from 245,000 litres at the beginning of the year to 1.237 million litres.
Infrastructure overhaul and debt reduction
The financial improvement has been accompanied by a physical upgrade of the retail network. A total of 121 filling stations have been converted to a modern format, and 87 new fuel-dispensing units have been installed across a further 56 sites. The company has also made significant progress on its balance sheet: liabilities owed to the Bukhara oil refinery fell by 296.7 billion soums, while receivables owed by consumers were reduced by 56.8 billion soums.
Results and forward targets were discussed at a practical seminar held at Kuchlik Neft Bazasi LLC, chaired by deputy board chairman A. Khudoybергanov.
Digitalisation as an anti-corruption tool
A parallel strand of the reform programme centres on digital monitoring. Sixty filling stations have been equipped with video-surveillance systems, ten of which are now connected to a situation centre at the company’s head office; work is continuing at the remaining sites. The company says centralised tracking of product movement and sales is intended to improve operational transparency, strengthen financial discipline and reduce corruption risks — an explicit acknowledgement that opacity in fuel distribution has historically created vulnerabilities.
Planned next steps include further increases in daily sales targets, phased reconstruction of filling stations to a standardised design, and full digitalisation of both depots and retail sites. That programme envisages the installation of electronic railway scales, instruments for measuring the level and density of petroleum products, modern dispensing equipment, intelligent surveillance cameras and integration with the 1C accounting platform.