Uzbekneftegaz national holding company said currently gas-field construction is underway at Surgil field. It is expected that 3 billion cubic meters of gas will be produced by the launch of the Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex.

In line with the resolution, Samsung Engineering and UzLITIneftgaz developed technological part of the project “Construction of Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex at Surgil deposit with gas-field construction”, envisaging to process 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.

It is expected that 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to the Ustyur Gas Chemical Complex from other deposits in Usyurt region. The complex will produce 500,000 tonnes of polyethylene and propylene.

Total cost of the project is US$3.254 billion, which will be financed due to investment of Korean consortium (US$1.694bn), resources of Fund for Development and Reconstruction of Uzbekistan (US$350m) and own resources of Uzbekneftegaz (US$1.21bn). It is planned to utilize investments for US$16.8 million in 2009. It is expected that Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex will be launched in 2012.

Surgil field was opened in 2006 and Uzbekneftegaz develops it. The reserves of the field are about 120 billion cubic meters. Gas from Surgil field has large volume of valuable components, including ethane.

In February 2008, Korean consortium led by Korean Gas Corporation (KOGAS) and Uzbekneftegaz national holding company created UzKorGasChemical for construction of gas chemical complex at Surgil field at Ustyurt region. The authorized capital of the venture is US$600 million.

The Korean consortium includes KOGAS (17.5%), Lotte Daesan Petrochemical Corp (17.5%), LG International, SK Gaz и STX Energy (5% each).