This area in Guzar district, until recently, was a bare steppe. The project for construction of the plant here has stalled, no one practically implemented it.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, after assuming the office of President, solved all the problematic issues related to the project.
By the resolution of the Head of the state of December 29, 2016, additional measures for the investment project “Organization of production of liquid synthetic fuel based on purified methane of Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex” were defined.
During a trip to Kashkadarya region in February 2017, the President visited the construction site of the plant and deeply analyzed issues related to its financing, equipping with foreign technologies, providing builders and personnel.
On December 13, 2018, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev again visited the construction site. Over the past period, much has changed. Work is actively carried out on an area of more than 135 hectares. The foundation has already been laid here, reinforced concrete supports have been installed. Huge tower cranes are working, assembly of complex structures has begun.
The plant is built according to the technology of licensors – the world’s leading companies “Sasol” (South Africa), “Haldor Topsoe” (Denmark) and “Chevron” (USA). The construction work is carried out by the main contractors – “Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd.” and “Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd.” companies of South Korea, “Enter Engineering Pte. Ltd.” of Singapore. Most of the builders and welders are local youth.
The technological equipment necessary for the complex – more than 11 thousand units – is manufactured at 126 plants of 21 countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, Germany, Italy, China, and Russia.
The scale of the project is amazing. The process of producing synthetic liquid fuels (GTL) from natural gas is a unique and ambitious task requiring high technologies and complex scientific solutions. Today there are five such plants in the world, the plant in Shurtan will become the sixth.
The total cost of a large-scale project is 3.6 billion dollars. As a result of its implementation, deep processing of 3.6 billion cubic meters of gas, production of 1.5 million tons of Euro-5 synthetic liquid fuel, including 311 thousand tons of aviation kerosene, 743 thousand tons of diesel fuel, 431 thousand tons of naphtha and 53 thousand tons of liquefied gas will be established.
The importance of the plant for the country’s economy is in the export of natural gas not as raw materials, but in the form of finished products with value added.
If today the export price of 1000 cubic meters of gas averages 155 dollars, a future plant based on processing such a volume of gas will produce products worth 300 dollars.
In general, it will become possible to receive 576 million dollars more income from the production of GTL products in a year than from the export of natural gas.
Another important point is that the plant’s products will replace their analogues, which are being imported today. Over the year, more than 1 billion dollars of foreign currency funds allocated for the purchase of oil from abroad will be saved.
After the plant commissioning, more than 1,300 people will be provided with jobs.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev became familiar with the construction of the complex, talked with representatives of contractors and investors.
– Having carefully considered all aspects, we decided to implement a project of historical significance for the production of synthetic liquid fuels, which will replace imports by 1 billion dollars. This is very important for the stability of Uzbekistan’s economy. Until now, there has not been such a product in the industry nomenclature. People will definitely feel when the production of fuel begins and the price of gasoline drops, – said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The Head of the state noted that it is necessary to speed up the launch of the plant, maximally engaging specialists, equipment and resources, precisely coordinating construction and installation works, and start production as soon as possible. He gave instructions to responsible persons on development of proposals for speeding up the commissioning of the plant.
Close location of the plant to Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex simplifies their sharing of infrastructure. Another project is being implemented here, envisaging an increase in the capacity of Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex from 125 to 505 thousand tons. It is planned that the complex will process naphtha produced by the GTL plant and produce new types of polyethylene and polypropylene products.
As a result, these capacities will form a single technological cluster, which in the future will give a new impetus to development of chemical, automotive, pharmaceutical, textile, tourism and other industries.
