Uzbekistan, Tashkent, July 23 /Trend D.Azizov/
National Holding Company (NHC) Uzbekneftegaz started the construction of external infrastructure of synthetic liquid fuels plant GTL in Kashkadarya.
Uzbek Prime Minister Shaukat Mirzijaeva noted that the construction process of the GTL plant is scheduled to begin in mid-2013.
"We hope that in a year we will be able to lay the foundation stone of the technological area of the plant to produce synthetic liquid fuels," the Prime Minister said.
He highly appreciated the importance of this project on in-depth processing of hydrocarbons for the Uzbek economy, describing it as strategic.
According to preliminary data, voiced by the Prime Minister, the cost of the plant will be about $4 billion with an annual processing capacity of 3.5 billion cubic meters and annual production of 860,000 tons of diesel fuel, 360,000 tones of jet fuel, 390,000 tons of naphtha and 11,000 tons of liquefied gas. It is planned to produce goods worth $ 1.5 billion per year.
Earlier it was reported that the cost of the project is $2.739 billion. It was also reported that the plant will process 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas and produce 672,000 tons of diesel fuel, 278,000 tones of jet fuel, 361,000 tons of naphtha and 63,000 tons of liquefied gas.
Uzbekneftegaz, South African Sasol Synfuels International (Pty) Ltd. (Sasol) and Malaysia's Petronas International Corporation Ltd. (Petronas) signed a tripartite investment agreement in November 2009 a to design and build a plant to produce synthetic liquid fuels (GTL).
In June 2011, Petronas decided to reduce its stake in the joint venture Uzbekistan GTL from 33.3 to 11 per cent. In September 2011, the share of Malaysian companies in the joint venture is reduced to 11 per cent share of Sasol and Uzbekneftegaz is now at 44.5 per cent.
Joint venture was established with an initial authorized capital of $ 30 million.
The project will be financed with the funds of Petronas, Sasol and Uzbekneftegaz, as well as a consortium of banks and financial institutions providing loans to the joint venture in terms of project funding.
Sasol Technology (Pty) Ltd is the licensor of production technology of synthetic liquid fuels (Sasol SPDTM process).
The raw material for fuel production will be the methane coming from Shurtan of 3.5 billion cubic meters.
French Technip completed a feasibility study for the first phase (Feed1) in 2010. The company is currently working on a second phase (Feed2) of pre-feasibility study, which is scheduled for completion in mid 2013.
According to experts, the GTL project will reduce the Uzbekistan's dependence on imported crude oil and will allow greater use of gas resources.
Shurtan was commissioned in 2001. The technology complex is designed to produce 150 kinds of polyethylene of high, medium and low pressure line.
The design capacity of Shurtan is 125,000 tons of polyethylene per year. The company produces 137 tons of liquefied gas, 130,000 tons of light condensate, and 4.2 billion cubic meters of marketable gas and 4000 tons of sulphur a year.
Uzbekneftegaz, an exclusive operator of oil and gas industry of Uzbekistan, was established in 1998 and operates six joint stock companies.
Uzbekistan for its natural gas production ranks third among the CIS countries and among the 10 largest producing countries of the world. The country produces over 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas, with a large part exported.