Uzbekneftegaz, Petronas & Sasol founds JV to construct GTL plant in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Nov. 6 / Trend D.Azizov /

Uzbekneftegaz, Malaysia's company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and South Africa's Sasol Ltd signed a memorandum on establishment of the joint venture (JV) UZBEKISTAN GTL to realize the project on production and sale of synthetic liquid fuels in Uzbekistan, Uzbekneftegaz said.

Under the constituent agreement approved by Uzbek President Islam Karimov's decree, the joint venture was founded in the form of a limited liability company on parity terms (33.3 percent) with a $30 million of authorized capital. In accordance with the schedule of the project, the amount of authorized capital will be raised to $840 million during the investment period.

The partners signed an agreement on the establishment of enterprise in July, 2009.

In accordance with the project's feasibility study, plant to produce synthetic liquid fuels (gas-to-liquid technology, GTL) will process 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas and produce 672,000 tons of diesel oil, 278,000 tons of jet fuel, 361,000 tons of naphtha and 63,000 tons of liquefied natural gas. The plant is planned to be launched in 2014. The plant's feasibility study is expected to be approved by late June 1, 2010.

The project will be financed through loans worth $2 billion attracted by Petronas and Sasol, Reconstruction and Development Fund of Uzbekistan - $220 million and Uzbekneftegaz - $200 million.

The raw material for fuel production will be methane coming from Shurtan gas chemical complex (GKC) in the amount of 3.5 billion cubic meters.

In May 2008, Petronas and Uzbekneftegaz signed a $1.5 billion contract to build a GTL plant based on Shurtan GKC.

Sasol, under whose technology GTL-products will be manufactured, joined the project in April, 2009.

Uzbekistan commissioned Shurtan GKC worth $985 million on the basis of the Shurtan field in late 2001. The design capacity of the complex allows processing 3.9 billion cubic meters of gas and producing 125,000 tons of polyethylene, 137,000 tons of liquefied gas and 130,000 tons of unstable condensate per year.

Currently, Uzbekneftegaz is considering the possibility of bringing the complex's capacity to 225,000 tons of polyethylene per year based on ethane extracted at facilities of Shurtanneftegaz (a subdivision of the Uzbek holding company) with its transportation to Shurtan GKC via pipeline.

Uzbekneftegaz established in 1998 is a monopoly operator of oil and gas industry of Uzbekistan and comprises six joint stock companies.

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