Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Uzbekistan will launch new projects on modernization and technological upgrade of its oil and gas industry.

Uzbekneftegaz national holding of Uzbekistan will start oil and gas projects under the new program worth $7.1 billion in 2015, RIA Novosti reported.

The program approved by President Islam Karimov includes 39 projects on modernization, technical and technological upgrade of oil and gas industry.

The total of investments and loans amount to $5.1 billion, the funds to be allocated by Uzbekistan - $1.14 billion, loans from the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan - $543.8 million, and the Uzbek banks - $313.7 million.

Uzbekistan has 594 million barrels of proven crude oil reserves as of 2014, according to Oil and Gas Journal. The country also has 65 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven natural gas reserves according to data published in 2013.

Roughly 60 percent of all known oil and natural gas fields are located in the Bukhara-Khiva region. The region is the source of approximately 70 percent of the country's oil production.

Russia's Lukoil and Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation are among the most heavily invested companies in Uzbekistan's oil and natural gas industry.

Russian oil giant Lukoil in the current year will begin the active phase of the project for the construction of a gas processing plant and the equipment furbishing of Kandim group of fields in the Bukhara region for an estimated investment of $2.66 billion. GPP, which will have a capacity of 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas a year, will be built by 2019.

Uzbekneftegaz and China's CNPC will begin the construction of the fourth line of the Uzbek section of the pipeline "Central Asia-China" worth $800 million. Construction of the pipeline - with a capacity of 20 billion cubic meters of gas - is to complete by 2017.

South Korean IRED Co. ltd will prepare a technical solution to expand the capacity of Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex in Kashkadarya region in the current year. The project which will cost at estimated$570 million will be completed by 2020.

Uzbekistan was the third largest natural gas producer in Eurasia, behind Russia and Turkmenistan in 2012. With a highly energy-intensive economy, Uzbekistan holds sizable hydrocarbon reserves of mostly natural gas. However, insufficient pipelines to export higher volumes of hydrocarbons and aging energy infrastructure have slowed the production, distribution, and exports of hydrocarbons in recent years, according to the International Energy Agency.

Uzbekistan is rich in hydrocarbon resources, and about 60 percent of its territory possesses potential oil and gas reserves. Uzbekistan ranks third among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and fifteenth among the countries of the world in terms of annual natural gas production.

The projected reserves of hydrocarbons stand at about 10 billion tons of standard fuel, while prospective ones amount to about 2 billion tons.

There are five oil and gas regions - Ustyurt, Bukhara-Khiva, Surkhandarya, Hissar, and Fergana - and three promising ones -Khorezm, Middle Syr Darya and Zarafshan- in Uzbekistan.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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