Uzbekistan, Tashkent, 15 March / Trend D.Azizov/
The British Unix Techno Company won a tender for the construction, equipment supply and engineering of a booster compressor station (BCS) with a capacity of 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, according to a Friday report of the National Holding Company (NHC) Uzbekneftegaz.
According to the terms of the tender announced in November 2012, Unix Techno will construct the BCS on the Alan field in the Kashkadarya region (south of Uzbekistan) valued at about $70 million in 2013-2014.
Construction of the BCS is being implemented within the framework of a project for development of the Alan gas field at a cost of $178.3 million.
As reported previously, in October 2011 the President of Uzbekistan ordered the acceleration of the implementation of a number of gas field development projects, including commissioning the Alan field within a year until the end of 2014.
Implementation of the project will maintain the production of gas on the field at 1.5 billion cubic meters per year under the conditions of reservoir pressure energy depletion of moist sour gas.
The project is financed by NHC Uzbekneftegaz's own assets to $89.2 million, using a credit from the Reconstruction and Development Fund of Uzbekistan worth $53.5 million and loans from the Uzbek banks of $35.6 million.
The Alan field has been explored since the second half of the 70's. Its resources were not divulged.
In 2007-2009 Uzbekneftegaz implemented similar projects of two other major fields in Kashkadarya - Zevardy and Pamuk at a total cost of about $170 million. The project also built two BCSs with a total capacity of seven billion cubic meters of gas per year also constructed within the scope of the projects.
According to Uzbekneftegaz NHC, the monopolistic operator of the oil and gas sector of Uzbekistan explored extractive hydrocarbon reserves in Uzbekistan which constitute 2.517 million tons of an equivalent fuel, of which about 65 present is gas reserves.
In 2012, Uzbekistan reduced natural gas production by 0.2 per cent compared to 2011, up to 62.911 billion cubic meters.