Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 22
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Uzbekistan in 2016 will continue to work on the creation of a consortium to finance the construction of the plant for the production of synthetic liquid fuels GTL (Gas to liquids) with the total cost of $5.6 billion, representative of the Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company (NHC) told Trend Dec.22.
Uzbekistan started to form a banking consortium to finance plant construction GTL in September, 2013.
The representative of the holding said that negotiations with potential consortium members, number of international financial institutions, continue, but to date, the sides failed to reach concrete agreements in connection with the difficult situation with the prices for hydrocarbons.
At the same time, Uzbekistan doesn't intend to abandon the GTL plant construction, which is a strategic target for the country. The period of its construction will be corrected, he said.
The representative of the holding company refused to name the possible date of start of the construction. Earlier, Uzbekistan planned to complete construction of the plant in 2016.
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. But the construction of technological part of the plant hasn't started yet.
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.
In summer 2013, Sasol also announced its intention to reduce its share from 44.5 to 25.5 percent in the joint venture due to increased portfolio and significant investment in its projects in South Africa.
It is planned that the plant will process 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas and produce 864,000 metric tons of diesel fuel, 304, 000 tons of jet fuel, 395, 000 tons of naphtha and 11, 200 tons of liquefied natural gas per year.
The financing of plant`s construction will be implemented through the own funds of the joint venture founders (30 percent of the cost), as well as loans from a consortium of banks under the conditions of project financing (70 percent of the cost).
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.
According to experts, GTL project will reduce Uzbekistan's dependence on imports of crude oil and will allow wider use of gas raw materials.