December 03, 2008

Uzbekistan to attract investments for gas saving projects

Trend Capital reported that Uzbekistan will direct USD 600 million to several projects on economy of natural gas.

In accordance with the special decree of Uzbek President Mr Islam Karimov, the projects on saving natural gas will be realized by 2021. The biggest project with the budget of USD 247.6 million envisages transfer of boilers of Novo-Angren PS from gas to twelve month coal burning.

Successful realization of this project can enable to save about 700 million cubic meter of gas per year. Experts suggest that by this way it can be possible to save 1.4 billion cubic meters, national holding company Uzbekneftgaz told Trend Capital.

The projected production capacity of the OJSC Novo-Angren PS is 2,100 MVt. The first power unit was put into exploitation in 1985 and the last, seventh one, in 2000. The power station provides electricity supply to main industrial facilities and population of Tashkent region.

According to the data of the Economy Ministry, by 2010 Uzbekistan will triple the coal production in accordance with a special governmental program, which is currently implemented in the country. The hard fuel will be used at power stations instead of natural gas. At present Angren and Novo-Angren PS are located exactly at the beds of this natural fuel, whilst still only natural gas and mazut are used for electricity production. Re-orientation of these generating powers from one kind of fuel to another requires significant investments, expert say.

In 2007 Uzbekistan extracted 65.189 billion cubic meter of gas, with the most part used inside the country. In this connection, the government is interested in increasing fuel supplies into the domestic market.