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ADB to Invest in Uzbekistan's Largest Petrochemical Plant |
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Wednesday, 25 January 2012The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan and political risk guarantee totaling about $400 million to help build the largest-ever petrochemical plant in Uzbekistan, the organization reported on Wednesday.
The Surgil Natural Gas Chemicals Project will produce gas for commercial use and for conversion into chemical intermediates used in the plastics and textiles industries.
The developer and operator, Uz-Kor Gas Chemical LLC, is a joint venture company owned by state-controlled oil and gas company National Holding Company Uzbekneftegaz, and the Consortium of Korean companies, comprising Korea Stock Exchange-listed Honam Petrochemical Corporation, Korea Gas Corporation, and STX Energy, a unit of STX Corp.
"Instead of simply extracting gas and treating it for energy use, the project will also process a portion of it into chemical raw materials for exporting to plastics and textiles producers. That means Uzbekistan gets more bang for its buck out of its natural resources," said Thomas Minnich, Senior Investment Specialist in ADB's Private Sector Operations Department.
ADB's provision of a partial risk guarantee has helped draw in commercial lenders to the project and that could spur further foreign investment in this key sector," he added.
Uzbekistan is the second largest gas producer in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) behind the Russian Federation, with total reserves of 59.4 trillion cubic feet
ADB is providing a 13-year loan of up to $125 million and a 13-year guarantee of up to $275 million which will cover certain risks on loans extended by commercial lenders to Uz-Kor Gas Chemical. The plant is expected to be operational in early 2016. |
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Trend AZ
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