By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The United Kingdom may allocate funds for the construction of Jizzakh refinery in Uzbekistan.

United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) earlier expressed its interest in the project.Negotiations of the parties were held in London in April this year within the framework of the first British-Uzbek energy forum entitled “Investment Potential of the Uzbek Oil and Gas Industry”.

At the forum, the Uzbek national company, Uzbekneftegaz, presented a project for the construction of a new modern oil refinery in the Jizzakh region. According to experts, this is an important project for the republic in terms of its geopolitical significance, with a processing capacity of 5 million tons of oil per year.

The advantage of the new refinery is that it will receive raw materials from the fields of Russia and Kazakhstan via the pipeline.

One of the threads of the Omsk-Pavlodar-Shymkent oil pipeline is already stretched to the area near the Jizzakh region. From there, a pipeline with a length of 100 kilometers will be laid to the complex, which will allow providing the refinery with raw materials at minimal cost.

The enterprise will annually process up to 5 million tons of oil and produce 3.7 million tons of motor fuel corresponding to the Euro-5 standard, more than 700,000 tons of aviation kerosene, as well as liquefied gas, mazut, bitumen and other products.

The complex is designed by Wood-Amec Foster Wheeler. In addition, White & Case acts as a legal consultant, Argus Media - as a marketing consultant, Gazprombank as a financial and ERM - as environmental consultants.

To date, framework agreements have been signed to participate in financing the project with leading banks, such as Korean Eximbank, the State Development Bank of China, Gazprombank and Credit Suisse.

The UK intends to finance projects in the oil and gas industry of Uzbekistan in the amount of 1.25 billion pounds through the UKEF. For this purpose, about a month ago a Memorandum was signed between the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and the British Agency.

Uzbek-British trade and economic relations are developing dynamically, and boosting bilateral business ties is a priority for both countries. The UK is considered to be one of the leading trading and investment partners of Uzbekistan. UK companies are identified as having strong expertise in energy, education, finance, legal and other relevant sectors, and will find excellent partners to implement current and planned projects in Uzbekistan. This event is aimed at providing British companies with the opportunity to enter the Uzbek market at an early stage and support them to take advantage of the opportunities that are opening up in the country.

A number of projects have been implemented in cooperation with British investments in the spheres of exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons and polymetallic ores, tobacco and pharmaceutical industry, etc.

Currently, 567 companies with British capital are operating in diverse sectors of Uzbek economy. More than 162 companies with 100 percent British capital were registered in Uzbekistan.

The fields of activity of enterprises, established with participation of the British capital, include mining, manufacture of food and drinks, tobacco products, building materials, produce of light industry, services in telecommunications, processing of agricultural production, rendering of leasing, consulting, insurance services.

There are 118 investment projects to be implemented in Uzbekistan in 2017-2019, and British companies are welcomed to participate in their implementation. Importantly, UK Export Finance has capacity to support British exports into Uzbekistan and all its products and services are available for both exporters and Uzbek buyers.