Tashkent, Uzbekistan, May 20
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The US Jackco Technology Group will participate in the preparation of the project for the production of synthetic liquid fuel from coal (CTL process - coal to liquid) in Uzbekistan, a representative of the Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company told Trend.
The source said that Jackco Technology Group and Uzbekneftegaz signed a road map for the implementation of CTL-project in Uzbekistan May 12.
The document was signed as part of the Uzbekistan International Oil and Gas Conference-2016, which is being held in Tashkent on May 18-20.
As part of the signed agreement, the US company will present its proposals on the technology of production of synthetic liquid fuel from coal. The estimated production capacity is 200,000 tons of oil products a year.
Uzbekistan was considering the possibility of constructing a CTL-plant in Tashkent region on the basis of Apartak lignite mine at a preliminary cost of $700 million in 2012-2013. It was assumed that the plant will process 2.2 million tons of coal and produce up to 700,000 tons of diesel fuel per year.
However, the project was not implemented due to the lack of necessary volumes of coal.
At present, Uzbekistan produces only about 4.4 million tons of coal per year. The main consumers of coal in the country are thermal power plants running on solid fuel. Over 85 percent of total coal consumption in the country account for these plants.
Uzbekistan plans to modernize the coal industry and increase coal production to 17.2 million tons by 2020.
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).