Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 14
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
The South African Sasol Ltd intends to reconsider its strategic participation in the GTL plant construction in Uzbekistan by summer 2016, a representative of the company told Trend.
The representative said that this decision was taken by the management of the company in February 2016 because of the decline in hydrocarbon prices, including oil.
"A final decision about an equity decrease in the project or the complete withdrawal from this project will be taken until the middle of 2016," a Sasol representative said.
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.