fuel shortage in Uzbekistan
 

Hi all,

it is still (08/2015) difficult to find petrol (benzin) in Uzbekistan. And the fuel you get (most of the time from street vendors) is very bad quality mixed with water. I never came across blue benzin, it was all yellowish depending on the level of water added I assume. I had to clean the fuel filter twice, as I could see the water and dirt in it. And also my bike (a Suzuki DR 350) had problems. Prices: I paid where between 2700 somonis and 4000 somonis. Once somebody asked for 6000 somonis, but i refused and found somewhere else. Black market rate for the USD was 4500 to 4600 somonis. In Nukus it took me 1,5 hours to find 30 liters of fuel and I speak/understand a bit of Russian. Fill up where ever you can.

mika

In July I found enough benzin in regular gas stations in Uzbekistan.

I came from Beyneu and went to Nukus, Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent and to Kirgistan.

You can find regular gas stations all over, never more then 300km and I had no problems with benzin, a lot of times ( mostly ) 80, but it worked without any problems.

I gave some waypoints to walter.

Anyone have recent information on where to buy gasoline in Uzbekistan?
A friend of mine is in Tajikistan now, and he say that he is hearing from other travelers that they are having major troubles finding fuel in Uzbekistan. He is heading to the ferry at Aktau, and is worried about running out of gas on that long stretch through the desert.
If anyone has recent info., please post here.
For example. "Gas station open at XXX coordinates", "Hotel XXXX got fuel for us".

Not sure if anything has changed but you need to hunt on the black market often. Fuel sellers have bottles at the side of the road.

I think the talk of problems is just westerners going there and shocked to see the fuel stations empty and unaware / scared of asking around on the black market.

But indeed there may be a genuine shortage, though I have not heard of it and cannot see that anything has really changed.

There is always a shortage at harvest time when diesel is reserved for agricultural use.

I fully agree with.
I was in Uzbekistan in June and crossed it from west to east.
I got fuel only once on a official fuel station.
So the black market is the place where you get fuel, bad quality, but the engine is running. One has to ask in hotels or taxi drivers to know where fuel is available.

I was in usbekistran a wek ago.

I only found 2 regular Gas stations, one had even 92.

But we asked for gas at Hotels, gas stations or truck stops.

It never took us longer than 5 minutes to find benzin.

At Lali opa in Khiva you get benzin and in Samarkand is the black market near Registan.

East of Bukhara it was OK, we always found fuel at a petrol station. From Urgench westward it becomes very difficult. But if you ask around somebody will make you an offer (that you can't refuse).

Note that in Beyneu (Kaz), fuel is available in limited quantity too.

Laurent

As most on here have said, it's generally only black market fuel that's available until you get to Samarkand.

We found petrol in Nukus and Bukhara on the black market. Ask at your hotel and generally they will know someone who can help.

We didn't go to the Aral Sea or Khiva as we didn't have the range in our tanks to get us there, and couldn't guarantee getting fuel there.

Be wary of the quality; ask for as high octane as possible, use an external filter when filling. Plus, it is a good idea to carry a bottle of octane booster, as you can't always rely on the octane being what they say.

In addition to our 17L fuel tank, we had 2x3L jerricans each, and another 3L in coke bottles, giving us just over 500km range in our tanks. In my opinion, you need to have at least 500km range, so get jerricans, bottles or whatever to get you through.

Khiva was no problem to get fuel.

And do not worry, it is easy to tell the quality, jut rely, that is only 80.

And in Nukus we found regular gas stations.

I crossed Uzbekistan (West to East) in June this year. You can always find petrol but you have to use your initiative. Hotels and taxi drivers are your best bet for finding black market petrol. I only found one petrol station open and that was selling 80 octane. In Moyanak, some road workers siphoned their car so I could get to the next town of Nukus.

There are 3 colours to look out for.
Green is generally 92 octane
Yellow is 80 octane
Black or dark colour - avoid at all costs!

Waypoints are of fairly limited use in the everlasting north west Uzbekistan fuel rationing situation.... one day one station will have some. Another day a different place will have some and the earlier place will be out. It could provide a false sense of security. Better to get it whenever you have a chance. In any of the bigger towns.

Locals know where to find fuel... always. You will always get some if you ask around. They will even give from their own stash or even siphon their own tank if no stations nearby have any.

Coming from the west the first and last station was in Buchara. But getting fuel was no problem in bigger cities. Mostly the vendors put water bottles filled with petrol beside the road that you find them. Prices between 4000 - 5500 sum.
Cheers from Khorogh
Oh was in August :-)

That is true, West of Buchara is Turkmenistan, but North of Bukhara you find open Gas Stations on the way to Kasachstan, zb in Nukus.

Hi,

When you say "fuel" you mean diesel fuel or gasoline?

RR.