Major gas chemical complex commissioned in Uzbekistan

The Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex, the largest in Central Asia has recently been commissioned in Karakalpakstan. The Prime Ministers of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and South Korea Hwang Kyo-ahn both officiating at a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on site on May 21, 2016. The project is located approximately 1,300 kilometers (km) from Tashkent on the Ustyurt plateau in the Kungrad region.

The project involved both the upstream development and operations at the Surgil Field involving drilling new production wells and constructing upstream infrastructure including expanding the complex gas treatment unit to supply up to 3 billion cubic meters per annum (BCMA) of gas and 115 thousand tons per annum (KTPA) of condensate; and the downstream development and operations at the gas treatment site is located approx. 115km southwest of the Surgil Field.

The integrated gas to chemical complex production (gas-to-chemical) comprises five plants a gas separation plant, an ethylene, a high-density polyethylene plant, a polypropylene plant, and supporting facilities; product transportation, water supply infrastructure; the project also includes three 35-megawatt gas turbine generator sets so its power supply independent of the national grid.

The project is sourcing gas from its own Surgil Field and will also purchase gas, through a gas supply agreement with UNG, from the Severniy-Berdakh and Vostochniy Berdakh Uchsay fields. Each is currently on-stream and the incremental production of the three gas fields available to the project provides the required gas volume. Condensate supply required for the polymer process is being provided under long-term supply contracts.

The upstream and downstream components of the project  are connected by two parallel 115-km pipelines constructed to supply gas and condensate from the Surgil Field to the gas separation plant. The complex at full production is expected to annually process 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, produce up to 4 billion cubic meters of marketable gas, 387,000 tons of polyethylene, 83,000 tons polypropylene.

A consortium of Korean companies joined Uzbekneftegaz having established the Uz-Kor Gas Chemical joint venture in May, 2008. Ustyurt GCC project was implemented on a parity basis. The Korean consortium included Lotte Chemical 24.5%, Korea Gas Corporation 22.5% and GS E& R 3%. The consortium established a joint venture, the UZ-Kor Gas Chemical LLC, with the Uzbekistan state-run company Uzbekneftegaz 50%. The consortium financed 50 percent of the project, and the Uzbekistan financed the other half to develop the gas chemical complex. The main customers  base likely CIS, Eastern Europe and Turkey and later western regions of China.

General contractors of the project were the Korean Samsung Engineering, GS Engineering and Hyundai Engineering. The construction of the complex began in 2011. The total cost of the project amounting to nearly US $ 4 billion. Participants of the project allocated approximately $1.4 billion and attracted about $2.5 billion from financial institutions in order to implement the project.

Source:http://www.mrcplast.com/news-news_open-318462.html 

Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex - Update

The Uz-Kor Gas Chemical JV will complete construction of the est. $4.1 billion Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex in 2015 allowing Uzbekistan to significantly expand its gas production. Currently Uzbekistan has around 10bcm/yr available for export.

Work on the plant began in 2011. It is scheduled to process some 4.5 billion cubic metres per year of gas and produce up to 4 bcm/y of commercial gas, as well as 387,000 tons per year of polyethylene, 83,000 tpa of polypropylene and about 102,000 tpa of pyrolysis gas.

The complex is being developed by Uz - Kor Gas Chemical JV which is a joint venture between the national gas company Uzbekneftegaz and a Korean consortium (consisting of Kogas, Honam Petrochemical and STX Energy). Funding of the construction of the complex is on a joint basis assisted by $2.54 billion in Asian, European and Uzbek bank loans.

The Surgil, Vostochny Berdakh-Uchsay and Severny Berdakh fields will serve as the resource base for the complex. The largest of them – Surgil – contains about 120 bcm of gas.

The whole project involves the development of three distinct yet interrelated components:

Drilling of gas production wells and the construction and expansion of associated production infrastructure for the Surgil, North and East Berdakh Fields, including a Complex Gas Treatment Unit (CGTU) at the Surgil Field (the “Surgil CGTU”) and another CGTU shared between the North and East Berdakh Fields (the “East Berdakh CGTU”).

The construction and operation of the UGCC and associated infrastructure (i.e. workers camp, rail connection, motor road connection, raw water supply line connection, sales gas pipeline, wastewater pipeline and disposal area and electrical power line connection, and other related infrastructure) on the Ustyurt Plateau for the production of high-density polyethylene and polypropylene and export of sales gas; and Construction and operation of below ground gas and condensate pipelines to connect the Surgil Field to the new UGCC, tie in of the existing sales gas pipeline from East Berdakh CGTU to the Surgil gas pipeline and the construction and tie in of a new condensate pipeline linking the East and North Berdakh Gas Fields to the new Surgil condensate pipeline.

 Source: http://interfaxenergy.com/gasdaily/article/14425/uzbekistan-could-complete-ustyurt-complex-by-q3-2015

President Karimov visits Karakalpakstan - Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex

Source:  http://www.uzdaily.com/articles-id-27551.htm UZDaily

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov paid a visit to Karakalpakstan on 25 April 2014 in relation to the ongoing construction works at the Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex.

“The construction works underway since 2012 have been in progress with accelerated rates. Modern infrastructure facilities are being erected and high-tech hardware and equipment is being installed. Some 6,400 people have been working at the construction site of the complex. More than 3,500 of them are specialists of our country, the majority of them constitutes the younger generation,” the press service of the Uzbek President noted.

The project on construction of Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex envisages constriction of the Surgil gas field, construction of plants for the separation of natural gas, cracking and production of the ready product.

Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex will ensure processing of 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas and produce 3.7 billion tank gas, 387,000 polyethylene and 83,000 tonnes of polypropylene, as well as 102,000 tonnes of pyrolyise petroleum and other products.

The project is designed to serve the gas fields of Surgil and East Berdah. The largest, Surgil, went on-stream two years ago and is currently being expanded by Uzbekneftegaz. Government estimates put its size at some 120 bcm.

Uz-Kor Gas Chemical was founded by Uzbek and Korean companies in May 2008 to develop, finance, construct and exploitation of integrated gas and oil processing project in Ustyurt region of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekneftegaz owns 50% stake in the joint venture, while Uz-Kor Gas Chemical Investment holds 50% share. Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), Honam Petrochemical and STX Energy are Korean founders of the venture.

The project participants will invest US$1.4 billion and raise an additional US$2.5 billion in loans ect. from financial institutions to implement the project.

Asian Development Bank, leading European and Asian commercial banks like Korean Financial Corporation, Korean Development Bank, ING Bank, Siemens Bank, Credit Suisse, Bayern LB, KfW IPEX, Nordea and Swedish bank SEK, as well as insurance companies are participating in the financing of the project.