Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan plans to expand deep natural gas processing to produce higher-value goods rather than using the fuel solely for electricity generation. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced the plans on 16 October during an open dialogue with investors in the fuel and energy sector.
The president stressed that the key consideration is not only the amount of electricity generated from natural gas, but also the additional economic value created through its processing.
As an example of existing production, Mirziyoyev cited a synthetic liquid fuel complex in the Kashkadarya region. The facility produces up to 1.5 million tonnes of fuel and other products annually.
An MTO project, which converts methanol into olefins, is planned for the Bukhara region. It will produce polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Uzbekistan also plans to modernise the Bukhara and Ferghana oil refineries.
Mirziyoyev said the government expects investors to submit proposals based on modern technologies that meet environmental requirements and are economically viable. Competition, transparency, economic efficiency and mutual benefit will be the key criteria for selecting projects.
At the same time, Uzbekistan is expanding international cooperation in geological exploration and improving the efficiency of field development. On the Ustyurt Plateau, exploration work is underway across six investment blocks in cooperation with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR and the UK’s BP.
Another 128 blocks have been prepared to attract foreign partners. Their estimated resources amount to 5.8 trillion cubic metres of natural gas and 560 million tonnes of liquid hydrocarbons.
