Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Oct. 24 / Trend D. Azizov /
The Uzbek government has approved the implementation of a feasibility study on a gas-chemical complex construction project at the Mubarek gas processing plant in the Kashkadarya region, south of Uzbekistan, worth $2.5 billion, a government source told Trend on Monday.
According to the schedule, the study is planned to be completed by the end of this year with partnership documents being agreed in early 2012. The partnership will be based on a parity basis between the National Holding Company Uzbekneftegaz and Singapore's Indorama Group.
The project will see the construction of a gas-chemical complex with the capacity of 500,000 tons of polyethylene per year taking four years to build.
It will be jointly financed by funds raised by Indorama, a division of the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund and Uzbekneftegaz's own finances.
Uzbekneftegaz and Indorama also signed an agreement last year to provide technological and financial involvement of a Singaporean company in producing diversified products such as polymers, and polyethylene on the basis of the Mubarek gas processing plant in 2010.
Mubarek Gas Processing Plant is a Uzneftegazdobycha's subsidiary and the plant was commissioned in 1971. It is designed to process 30 billion cubic meters of gas each year and more than 570,000 tons of gas condensate.
The enterprise manufactures several types of products: stabile gas condensate, liquefied hydrocarbon gases and technical sulfur gas. The products are sold domestically and exported.
Uzbekistan launched the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex worth $985 million on the Shurtan field in 2001. The complex can process 3.9 billion cubic meters of gas and produce 125,000 tons of polyethylene, 137,000 tons of liquefied natural gas and 130,000 tons of unstable condensate per year.
The Uzbek government and a consortium of Korean companies led by Kogas signed an investment agreement on construction of the Ustyurt gas-chemical complex on the Surgil field in the Ustyurt region worth $4.2 billion in February 2010. The enterprise is planned to be commissioned until 2015 and will be able to produce 400,000 tons of polyethylene and 100,000 tons of polypropylene per year.