Investment companies from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) showed interest in financing of many strategic projects in Uzbekistan. Tashkent and Abu Dhabi expect to get good results from their cooperation in oil and gas and chemical industries.

The “Uzbekneftegas” National Holding Company informs the UT that the “Uzbekneftegas” and investment fund International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) signed a memorandum on cooperation in oil and gas industry within the framework of President Islam Karimov’s official visit to the UAE on March 17-18, 2008.

The memorandum determines as main aspects of cooperation between the two companies the seismological surveys on the territory of Uzbekistan and developing of perspective areas for joint development and further production of gas to liquid (GTL) and petrochemicals.

At the moment the Uzbek side is discussing variants of turning natural gas into liquid products so-called GTL Technologies (gas to liquid) in the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex and Muborak Gas Processing Plant in the south of Uzbekistan and Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex that is to be constructed in 2012.

High prices for hydrocarbons encourage development of this relatively new sector of hydrocarbon processing. Basic product of constructed GTL enterprises will be diesel fuel but GTL products, primarily such basic product of modern chemical industry as methanol can play an important role in the market of petrochemicals.

In turn, the Mubadala Development Co, an investment company of Abu Dhabi administration, intends to invest in the modernization of the OSC “Navoiazot”, Uzbekistan’s largest chemical enterprise.

Under the memorandum, signed with the “O’zkimyosanoat” State Stock Company and the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan, the Fund plans to finance a project on construction in the “Navoiazot” an ammonia production complex having annual capacity of 500 thousand tons of ammonia and 450 thousand tons of carbamide.

In recent two years the Uzbek chemical industry has been open for foreign capital. Uzbekistan has not set up new chemical enterprises for 30 years already. Therefore, the project on building a nitrogen complex is a unique one. It is a great capacity for the Republic. The new project is justified from marketing point of view. The world prices for products of the “Navoiazot” have gone up in last fifteen years. Uzbekistan has favorable condition with raw material and natural gas as well. Basically, the main direction of product sales will be export.

Investment Company of UAE also intends to invest in the implementation of a project on manufacturing caustic soda and polyvinylchloride of 50 thousand tons a year in the “Navoiazot”.

We would like to mention that in March 2006 Russia’s OSC “Kaustik” (Volgograd) and “Navoiazot” set up the JV “Navoi-plast” for manufacturing organic products worth USD 160 million. The UAE investors are expected to participate in this project implementation. The polyvinylchloride market has grown nearly twice in the CIS in last three years and decrease in demand for this polymer is not observed.

Uzbekistan Today news agency