Uzbekistan, Tashkent, March 10 / Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbekistan GTL LLC awarded France's Technip a reimbursable services contract for the execution of the detailed feasibility study for a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Uzbekistan, a source in the government reported.
The feasibility study is expected to be developed in the next three months with a view to its adoption in the Uzbek government until June1.
In November 2009, Uzbekistan GTL LLC is a JV company incorporated in Uzbekistan by Uzbekneftegaz, Uzbekistan state owned oil and gas company, Sasol Synfuels International, Sasol Group South Africa, and Petronas, a company fully owned by the Malaysian government. This venture has been recently created to build a GTL products unit in Uzbekistan.
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.
Under the feasibility study of the project, the refinery will process 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas and produce 672,000 tons of diesel oil, 278 tons of jet fuel, 361,000 tons of naphtha and 63,000 tons of liquefied gas. The plant will be commissioned in 2014.
The founders of the JV will finance the project through their own funds. Moreover, a consortium of banks and financial institutions will provide loans in terms of project financing.
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.
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