21 September, 2011
Politics:
Meeting at the Oqsaroy
Role of media increases in Uzbekistan
Economy:
Sasol, partners sign the investment agreement on Uzbek GTL project
Mechanism to Enhance Export Capacities
POLICY
Meeting at the Oqsaroy
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov met with David Constable, chief executive officer of South Africa’s Sasol, and Dato Shamsul Azhar Abbas, president of Malaysia’s Petronas.
Welcoming the guests, Islam Karimov noted that Uzbekistan considers Sasol and Petronas reliable partners, and highly regards the cooperation with these companies.
Under a joint project currently underway by Uzbekneftgaz national holding company in partnership with Sasol and Petronas, a plant is being constructed in Uzbekistan to generate synthetic liquefied fuel (GTL) from methane produced at Shurtan gas-chemical complex.
The scheme envisions establishment of high-tech innovative capacities unique to CIS and Europe to produce environmentally clean synthetic liquefied fuels, primarily diesel and aircraft kerosene under Euro-IV and Euro-V standards.
Uzbekistan GTL joint venture has completed the basic projecting phase leading to a preliminary feasibility study.
As part of Sasol and Petronas chiefs’ visit to Uzbekistan, a range of documents have been signed to serve as a foundation to shift to the second phase of the scheme that includes detailed engineering projecting and placement of orders for equipment.
During the meeting at the Oqsaroy, the guests expressed sincere gratitude to President Islam Karimov for a warm welcome and stressed their interest in furthering the cooperation with Uzbekistan.
The progress made in materializing the joint projects has also been discussed during the talks, as has consolidation of partnership in investments and high technologies.
(Source: press-service.uz)
Role of media increases in Uzbekistan
The consistent process has been going on in Uzbekistan on reforming information and freedom expression spheres. The measures on strengthening media’s role to ensure public control over activities of state power bodies and governance play the key role in the development of national information space, introducing the participants into market relations.
These issues were discussed at an enlarged meeting of the Committee on Information and Communication Technologies of Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan, devoted to discussion of the results of control and analytical work to achieve in accordance with the laws “On guarantess and freedom of informations,” “On guarantees of freedom of entrepreneurial activity” in Bukhara and Navoi regions.
The event was attended by the heads and specialists of ministries, agencies and public authorities in the field, representatives of civil society and the media and deputies.
Chairman of the Committee on Information and Communication Technologies of Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis A. Jurabaev, deputy governor of Bukhara region H. Goyirov, deputy governor of Navoi region S. Samadov and others noted that under the leadership of President Islam Karimov, in Uzbekistan, a great attention is paid to guarantee and freedom of access to information and a comprehensive public awareness about the activities of state agencies.
As control and analytical testing prevailed in Bukhara and Navoi regions, the work has been carried out to strengthen public control over activities of state bodies and create conditions for businesses in the information sphere. The rights of citizens are guaranteed to receive information; websites of public authorities provided the necessary regulatory and informational materials, distributing public information through local media, etc.
The meeting gave specific recommendations for the state and economic management of Bukhara and Navoi regions to enhance the effectiveness of providing systematic information on their activities and improve the activities of information services, strengthen material-technical base of the media, promotion of labor workers.
(Source: UzA News Agency)
ECONOMY
Sasol, partners sign the investment agreement on Uzbek GTL project
On 19 September 2011 South African energy and chemicals group, Sasol, together with partners Uzbekneftegaz and PETRONAS, signed an investment agreement with the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade for the Uzbekistan government, for the development and implementation of a Gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Uzbekistan.
Under the investment agreement, the investors and the GTL project will enjoy investment protection and fiscal benefits, to ensure the successful implementation and operation of the GTL facility.
Sasol CEO, David Constable, met with the President of Uzbekistan, His Excellency, Islam Karimov, prior to the signing ceremony and thanked the President and his government for their ongoing support of the project.
Commenting at the signing ceremony in Tashkent, Constable said the ability to harness the benefits of natural gas to make cleaner transport fuels is a key element of a lower emissions energy future.
“GTL technology is the most cost effective way of achieving this and, as a world leader in GTL, Sasol is very pleased to be working with partners who have both the vision to see the opportunity and the capacity to act on it,” he said.
The conclusion of the investment agreement is an important milestone in the development of the GTL project in which Sasol and Uzbekneftegaz each hold 44, 5% interest and PETRONAS an 11% interest.
The GTL project will reduce Uzbekistan’s dependence on the importation of crude oil and transportation fuels and will diversify the utilisation of its domestic gas resources. The GTL project will also improve the quality of the fuel pool, reducing emissions, thereby securing the associated environmental benefits. Uzbekneftegaz will supply the feedstock, from the already developed Shurtan group of gas fields and will off-take the majority of the production, under long term arrangements.
Attending the ceremony also was the President of PETRONAS, Dato’ Shamsul Azhar Abbas, who expressed PETRONAS’ support of and commitment to, the partnership between the three companies, with the government of Uzbekistan.
The next phase will be the front end engineering and design of the GTL project which will commence before the end of the year 2011 and depending on the final investment decision, the plant will be operational in the second half of this decade.
In April 2009, Sasol Synfuels International (Pty) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of South African energy and chemicals group Sasol Limited, along with its partners the National Holding Company “Uzbekneftegaz” and PETRONAS signed a heads of agreement with regard to the possible development of a GTL plant in Uzbekistan.
A joint-venture agreement was subsequently signed in July 2009 and the feasibility study commenced in December 2009 after all regulatory approvals were obtained for the formation of a joint venture company, Uzbekistan GTL LLC.
The feasibility study has now been completed and based on results of this study it was determined that the establishment of a GTL plant in Uzbekistan, utilising Sasol’s proprietary SPDTM technology, with an estimated nominal capacity of 1,4 million tons per annum would be feasible. The GTL plant will produce high quality, environmentally friendly diesel, kerosene and naphtha.
(Source: UzDaily.com)
Mechanism to Enhance Export Capacities
Looking forward to Cotton Fair
Tashkent is going to turn into a global center of cotton and textile industry on October 12-13. Leading experts and specialists are expected to gather at the International Uzbek Cotton and Textile Fair for the seventh time.
Cotton cultivation and its processing have been improving in Uzbekistan as a result of cardinal reforms undertaken in agriculture. The high-quality fiber produced by Uzbek cotton-growers is well appreciated and valued by foreign customers for its length, strength, color and micronaire indicators. The traditional international cotton fair has proved an important mechanism for cotton sales, for the timely delivery to processing enterprises, and for enhancement of export capacities. It opens up extensive opportunities to further improve the mechanism of direct supply of goods and expand the geography of international customers.
The principal objective sought by the Cotton Fair is to foster long-term cooperation with international organizations and companies, with world's leading processors and final consumers of cotton fiber. During the venture, experts and specialists analyze the trends and prospects of the global market developments; they exchange information on latest innovations in cotton production, trade and logistics.
Tenders will be there to display large cotton batches. Participants of the event will be presented a unique opportunity to reach long-term deals with Uzbek exporters for potential crops. Aimed at facilitating to boost cooperation among interested parties, panel discussions and bilateral negotiations between exporters and consumers of Uzbek cotton are to be arranged during the fair.
Today Uzbekistan is the northernmost cotton-producing country, thus a special attention is paid to the development and cultivation of early maturing breeds. Currently, the ripening period of the varieties grown in foreign countries is around 150-160 days, while in comparison the sorts selected in our country require 110-125 days. The fair’s agenda will particularly be focused on increasing the yield and quality of produced cotton.
The availability of a well-established system of logistics that consists of cotton terminals, transport infrastructure and route corridors are critical in cotton exporting process. The most convenient and efficient transport corridors are being developed to further diversify and optimize the routes of the Uzbek cotton supply to foreign markets. Now the country runs 22 regional cotton terminals contributing to the uninterrupted delivery of cotton fiber produced by local cotton growers to customers.
(Source: UT News Agency)