Uzbekistan postpones shale plant construction

Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 28 By Demir Azizov– Trend: The Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company (NHC) has postponed the start of the project to build a plant for oil shale processing at a later date, the holding company told Trend. The source said that this project’s implementation is in the company's plans. Rescheduling is related in particular to the recent decline in oil prices, as well as the fact that the company has not chosen a licensor of shale processing technology. The source didn’t name the specific timing of the construction of the plant. The Russian Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Institute AEP" completed in October 2012 the development of a pre-construction shale processing plant project in the Sangruntau field for Uzbekneftegaz. In May 2013, Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company (NHC) announced that it 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 first phase of the project (2014-2015) entailed the construction of a complex for processing two million tons of shale oil per year. Over the next three years - in 2015-2018 - the processing capacity of the plant was planned to increase to eight million tons of shale ore with production of up to one million tons of oil annually. In late 2013, Uzbekneftegaz announced a tender for the selection of a licensor of shale processing technology, but it was declared cancelled. The output of diesel fraction from tar of shale of the Sangruntau deposit with reserves of 357 million tons equals nearly 30 percent, which is the highest figure among the country's major deposits of this type. Experts estimate that the expected reserves of shale oil in Uzbekistan amount to 47 billion tons, which are located at a depth of 600 meters. In particular, among these deposits are "Baysun", "Jam", "Urtabulak" "Sangruntau", "Aktau", "Uchkyr" "Kulbeshkak". In addition to the hydrocarbon component, there is also a wide range of non-ferrous and rare metals in significant quantities. Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency