Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Mar. 2
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Japanese Hitachi Zosen Corporation will manufacture reactor LTFT for technological part of the plant for the production of synthetic liquid fuels GTL (Gas to liquids), which is under construction in Uzbekistan, said the Republican construction program for 2015, published in the republican press.
A source in the National Holding Company (NHC) Uzbekneftegaz told Trend it is expected that the first batch of equipment for the reactor will arrive in the second quarter of 2015.
It is planned that construction of the plant will enter into an active phase in the middle of 2015.
It was earlier reported that Uzbekneftegaz, South African Sasol Synfuels International (Pty) Ltd. and Malaysia's Petronas International Corporation Ltd. (Petronas) signed founding documents in November 2009 on the establishment Uzbekistan GTL joint venture for the production of synthetic liquid fuels at the base of Shurtan MCC (Kashkadarya).
In 2011, the share of Malaysian companies in the joint venture, on the proposal of Petronas, was reduced to 11 percent, and the share of Sasol and Uzbekneftegaz increased by 44.5 percent.
The design capacity is 863, 400 metric tons of diesel fuel, 304,000 metric tons of kerosene, 393, 500 metric tons of naphtha and 11, 200 metric tons of liquefied gas per year. The cost of the project is $5.6 billion, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In July 2013, Uzbekneftegaz started the construction of external infrastructure facilities of the plant and in January 2014 - the preparation of the construction site for the plant.
Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea) with which a contract worth $2.33 billion was signed December 2013, will deal with the technological part of the plant, while Uzbekistan's Shurtan gas chemical complex will provide raw materials. The construction is planned to be finished in August 2017.
Funding for the project is provided at the own expense of the founders of the joint venture, as well as a consortium of banks and financial institutions that provide project financing loans for the joint venture.
Shurtan GCC, the design capacity of which is 125,000 metric tons of polyethylene per year, was commissioned in 2001. Complex technology is designed to produce 150 kinds of high, medium and low-pressure polyethylene.
The complex also annually produces 137 metric tons of liquefied gas, 130,000 metric tons of light condensate, 4.2 billion cubic meters of marketable gas, and 4,000 metric tons of sulfur.
Uzbekistan holds third place among the CIS countries for the production of natural gas and is among the ten largest gas-producing countries in the world.
Edited by CN