Uzbekistan, Tashkent, May 17 / Trend D. Azizov /
Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company (NHC) in 2012-2013 plans to create a plant for complex processing of oil shale into oil products at the basis of the Sangruntau field in Navoi region (central part of Uzbekistan), the holding said during the International Exhibition of Oil & Gas Uzbekistan 2012 which ended on Thursday in Tashkent.
According to Uzbekneftegaz, the project is now worked out jointly with the Japanese JGS Corporation, under a memorandum of cooperation signed with the government and the NHC Uzbekneftegaz in 2010. Until the end of this year it is planned to complete the feasibility study, so that at the beginning of 2013 to begin discussing the further stages of the project.
According to the preliminary parameters, processing plant will produce up to one million tons of oil products annually.
Funding for the project with an estimated cost of $600 million will be provided through own expense of NHC Uzbekneftegaz, loans of Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and foreign investments in the amount of $ 300 million.
According to expert, probable reserves of oil shale in Uzbekistan amount to 47 billion tons which are located at a depth of 600 meters. In particular, the country estimated reserves of fields of Baisun, Jam, Urtabulak, Sangruntau, Aktau, Uchkyr, Kulbeshkak. In addition to the hydrocarbon component, they have significant quantities of wide range of non-ferrous and rare metals.
The yield of diesel fraction from resin of shale of Sangruntau field is about 30 percent, the highest among the major fields of this type in the country.
As previously reported, in 2010 NHC Uzbekneftegaz has begun to develop a preliminary feasibility study of project providing for the construction in 2011-2016 of the plant for complex processing of oil shale deposits on the basis of Sangruntau field.
As reported by Trend, in June last year the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan, State Committee for Geology, NHC Uzbekneftegaz and the Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC) signed an agreement on exploring issues of development of oil shale deposits in Uzbekistan.
In accordance with the agreements, JOGMEC during the year should conduct exploration work on Baisun field in Surkhandarya and Sangruntau in Navoi region of Uzbekistan in order to confirm the results of previous geological research.
After the exploration work and evaluation of fields, the Japanese side will take a decision on the future course of the project and the feasibility of establishing a joint venture for production of oil shale.
In 2011, oil production in Uzbekistan decreased by 5.8 percent compared with 2010 - to 1.889 million tons, gas condensate - 9.8 percent - to 1.696 million tons, natural gas production declined by 4.4 percent - to 63.04 billion cubic meters.