Uzbek GTL plant starts producing synthetic oil
Uzbekistan has started production of synthetic oil at a natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in its Qashqadaryo region, the project's operator reported on June 20.
The Central Asian state completed the $3.6bn GTL plant at the end of the last year, and has pinned its hopes on the project to help ease domestic fuel shortages. Once fully operational, it will produce more than 1.5mn metric tons/year of synthetic liquid fuel.
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Synthetic oil is currently being stored in the complex's storage tank, and awaiting refinement and processing into diesel fuel, aviation fuel, kerosene, naphtha and LPG, which should begin soon, the project's operator, a subsidiary of national oil company Uzbekneftegaz, said. Synthetic gas began flowing on the night of June 14 that was then piped into the plant's Fischer-Tropsch reactors and synthesised into fluid the following day.
"Very soon we will be generating products which will reduce our nation’s reliance on imports and contribute to a major new development of our petrochemicals industry," Uzbekistan GTL CEO Fakhritdin Abdurasulov commented.