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State gas distributor Hududgaztaminot has shut down 471 illegal liquefied petroleum gas outlets — known locally as “bunkers” — since the start of 2025, as part of a sweeping enforcement campaign that has uncovered 1,217 separate violations across the sector in less than two years.
The company’s compliance units conducted more than 3,000 unannounced inspections and raids during 2025 and the first nine months of 2026. Those operations intercepted 193.6 tonnes of LPG valued at nearly 2 billion soums and blocked the unlawful sale of 17,301 household gas cylinders worth a combined 8.7 billion soums.
Scale of Theft and Criminal Referrals
Inspections covering only the first nine months of 2026 revealed that 1,400 tonnes of LPG and 10,626 household cylinders had been misappropriated during that period alone. Hududgaztaminot forwarded 25 case files to law-enforcement bodies; prosecutors have since opened 19 criminal cases on the basis of that material.
A separate series of raids conducted between 19 and 21 October this year resulted in the seizure of more than 3,000 cylinders containing 13.6 tonnes of LPG. The gas had been allocated for residents of areas without pipeline connections, but was instead being resold at inflated prices. In dozens of instances, employees of the gas service itself were found to be involved.
Market Reform Arrives as Enforcement Intensifies
The crackdown coincides with a structural overhaul of how LPG reaches consumers. Under a presidential decree, Uzbekistan is shifting household gas supply to market mechanisms in stages. A new operator, LPG-Trade, has been established, and from 1 November purchases of gas for the public will be conducted through an exchange. Andijan will be the first region where private companies are permitted to sell LPG at freely set prices.
Alongside the liberalisation, the government has proposed raising the regulated retail price of LPG from 2,000 soums per kilogram to 5,000 soums, citing declining domestic production, rising imports and persistent supply shortfalls. Vulnerable households would receive a subsidy of 3,000 soums per kilogram on up to 20 kilograms a month.
Hududgaztaminot said its compliance raids are continuing and urged citizens who encounter illegal LPG sales or other violations to report them directly to the company.