Uzbekistan seeks $850 million in investments by 2015 for oil shale development

Uzbekistan seeks $850 million in investments by 2015 for oil shale development

Asia Pulse reports that the Uzbek government plans to attract US$850 million in investment for oil shale processing projects in the country between 2011-2015, according to the Uzbek government.

Uzbekistan is developing two projects to extract manufacturable products from oil shale at the Sangruntau deposit in Navoi region.

These projects were approved by Uzbek President Islam Karimov in December 2010 as part of the priorities set for Uzbekistan's industrial development in 2011-2015. In particular, during 2012-2013 the Uzbekneftegaz national holding company plans to establish a facility worth $600 million to process oil shale into petroleum products. The designed capacity of the new facility will be one million tons of liquid hydrocarbons.

The project is being developed in collaboration with the Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp (JOGMEC), Russia's Atomenergoproekt Institute, and several Korean companies.

In 2013-2015 the government also plans to implement a $250 million project to extract metals from oil shale at the Sangruntau deposit. In June 2010 Japan's JGC Corporation (TSE:1963) and Technopian Corporation signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Uzbek government to implement this project.

The project will be financed through funds allocated by the Uzbek side and foreign loans.

Oil shale reserves in Uzbekistan are estimated at 47 billion tons.