BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 18
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Gasoline production in Uzbekistan fell by six percent in May 2020 compared to May 2019, to 75,500 tons, Trend reports with reference to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.
Production of diesel fuel in May 2020 increased by 2.7 percent to 98,200 tons, compared to May 2019.
Total production of motor gasoline in the country has increased by 13.4 percent to 441,300 tons in the period from January through May this year compared to the same period last year, while production of diesel fuel - by 5.5 percent to 461,600 tons.
Currently, three large oil refineries including Bukhara, Ferghana and Altyarik with a total capacity of 11.1 million tons operate in Uzbekistan. However, the capacity of the enterprises is no more than 30 percent.
In December 2017, the construction of the Jizzakh Refinery, which cost $2.2 billion and has a capacity of processing of 5 million tons of oil, has begun. Its construction was planned to be completed by 2021. However, in December 2018 the project was put on hold, and Uzbekistan announced the revision of the concept to increase capacity through modernization of existing refineries.
In particular, it is planned to modernize Ferghana and Altyarik refineries worth $875 million by 2022 in three phases in partnership with American Honeywell UOP, French Axens and Danish Haldor Topsoe. Starting from 2020, it was planned to produce high-quality diesel fuel meeting the Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards.
The modernization of the Bukhara Refinery worth $533 million is also planned to be carried out in three stages in partnership with South Korean SK Engineering to be completed by 2025.
In March 2020, Bukhara Refinery started production of high-quality Euro-4 and Euro-5 class diesel fuel, with an initial capacity of 100,000 tons per year. Installation and commissioning work was carried out with online support of specialists from the French Axens company.
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