The press service of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan said that the Sasol officials informed the Uzbek side on implementation of joint project on production of synthetic liquefied fuel on the base of cleaning methane of the Shortan Gas Chemical Complex.

The sides exchanged opinion on further development of cooperation.

As reported earlier, Uzbekneftegaz national holding company, Petronas and Sasol Synfuels International (PTY) Limited signed charter and constituent agreement of joint venture Uzbekistan GTL in November 2009. The preliminary cost of the project makes up US$2.5 billion.

The venture was created in parity terms (33.3%) with preliminary charter capital of US$30 million. Later, the size of the authorized capital will reach US$840 million.

In June 2011, Petronas adopted to cut its share in Uzbekistan GTL JV from 33.3% to 11%. Participants are planning to decide JV share distribution by the end of 2011.

France’s Technip is preparing feasibility study of the project on construction of the plant on production of synthetic fuel. Technip signed a contract on developing feasibility study with Uzbekistan GTL JV, which is operator of the plant, in March 2010.

In line with preliminary feasibility study, the plant will process 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas and produce 672,000 tonnes of diesel fuel, 278,000 tonnes of aviation kerosene, 361,000 tonnes of naphtha and 63,000 tonnes of liquefied gas. However, Uzbekneftegaz said that designed capacity of the plant will be increased up to 1.468 million tonnes a year

The project will be financed due to own resources of the venture’s founders, consortium of banks and financial institutions, which issue loans on project financing terms.

In August 2011, it was reported that commissioning of the plant on production of synthetic fuel (GTL) in Uzbekistan was shifted from 2015 to 2017.