Baku, Azerbaijan, March 15
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
The construction of an oil refining complex in Jizzakh region of Uzbekistan has been suspended, Trend reports with reference to the deputy director of the Neftegazinvest company, Husniddin Turayev.
He stated that first of all it was decided to modernize the existing Bukhara and Fergana refineries. In 2013–2014, American Honeywell and Axens Group companies developed a feasibility study of projects for the reconstruction of these plants.
Turaev stressed that negotiations with potential licensors, including Honeywell, Axens, and some Korean companies are underway. The concept of modernization of plants will be determined after processing their materials.
Due to the modernization of these two plants, it is planned to master the production of petroleum products that meet the Euro-5 standard. The deputy head of Neftegazinvest added that work is currently underway to attract investors to the Fergana refinery. Earlier, Uzbek president ordered to transfer the plant to investors in trust through a public-private partnership.
“After the completion of this work, the further issue of the construction of Jizzakh oil refinery will be considered,” Husniddin Turaev noted.
As a result of suspension of the construction of Jizzakh refinery, Uzbekistan also suspended negotiations on increasing oil supplies from Russia. To supply the three oil refineries of the country, it was planned to import up to 1 million tons of oil from Russia and Kazakhstan from 2018 with the subsequent increase to 5 million tons.
The construction of Jizzakh refinery, which began in April 2017, was planned to be completed by 2021. Construction of the project being built in Zafarabad district was estimated at $2.2 billion. It was expected that the plant would annually process 5 million tons of oil and produce high quality petroleum products.
It was planned that the Jizzakh refinery would annually produce more than 3.7 million tons of motor fuel, more than 700,000 tons of aviation kerosene and 300,000 tons of associated petroleum products. Gazprom’s subsidiary Enter Engineering Pte Ltd was to conduct the construction.
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