Azernews.Az

TASHKENT - The Uzbek government has attracted Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC), JGS and Technopian Corporationto jointly explore and develop oil shale deposits in Uzbekistan, according to the Uzbek State Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources (SCGMR).
In June, Uzbekistan's Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Ministry, SCGMR, Uzbekneftegaz and JOGMEC signed an agreement to develop oil shale deposits in Uzbekistan.
Under the agreement, within a year, the JOGMEC will carry out exploration works in the Baysun deposit in Surkhandarya and the Sangruntau deposit in the Navoi regions.
After the exploration works and evaluation of the deposits resources, the Japanese side will decide on future implementation of the project and feasibility of establishing a joint venture producing oil shale.
Also, Japan's JGS Corporation and Technopian Corporation have signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Uzbek government and Uzbekneftegaz on joint development of oil shale in Uzbekistan.
Within six months, the Japanese companies will be studying geological materials provided by the Uzbek side. After that, the sides will consider establishment of a joint venture to develop oil fields.
Oil shale reserves in Uzbekistan are estimated at 47 billion tons.
Earlier it was reported that in 2010-2011 the Uzbek government will attract Korean companies to implement a project for processing oil shale in Uzbekistan.
In 2010, Uzbekneftegaz started to develop a preliminary feasibility study of the project, which provides the establishment of a facility worth US $150 million for integrated oil shale processing at the Sangruntau deposit in the Navoi region (central Uzbekistan) in 2011-2016.
According to preliminary estimates, the processing plant will produce up to 300,000 tons of oil and 500,000 tons of aromatic hydrocarbons per year.