Uzbekneftegaz to invest $1bln into southwest gas deposits.

14/1 Tass 135

TASHKENT, January 14 (Itar-Tass) - Uzbekneftegaz National Holding
Company will invest over 1 billion U.S. dollars into developing
infrastructure of gas deposits in Gazly district, Uzbekistan's southwest,
the Prime-Tass business news agency said with reference to a source in the
republic's government on Friday.
The holding plans to develop deposits - Kulbeshkak, Dayakhatyn,
Khodjikazgan, Syuzma, Kumli and Chegarakum - that were found in early
1990s, but stayed undeveloped since.
A governmental official did not name the deposits' proven reserves,
but noted that they will produce up to 5 billion cubic meters of gas a
year by 2021.
The infrastructure development project will be financed through
Uzbenkneftegaz' own funds totalling 685.5 million U.S. dollars, a 159
million dollar loan from Uzbekistan's Reconstruction and Development Fund
and foreign loans estimated at 158.4 million U.S. dollars.
The deposits will be developed to refill the Central Asian republic's
resource base and increase export volumes. One of the biggest gas deposits
in this region - Gazly - has been developed since 1961. Its gas-in-place
resources were estimated at around 500 billion cubic meters. At present,
the field's reserves had been depleted.
According to Uzbekneftegaz, as of January 1, 2010, Uzbekistan found
228 hydrocarbon fields - of them 50 percent are being developed, another
35 percent are prepared for exploration and another 25 percent continue
geological surveys.
At the current hydrocarbon production pace Uzbekistan will have enough
gas for 31 years, oil for 26 years and gas condensate for around 30 years
ahead.
Uzbekneftegaz' capacities allow to produce 60 billion cubic meters of
gas and 8 million tonnes of liquid hydrocarbons a year.
In January-November 2010 the republic's oil and gas condensate output
shrank by 18.3 percent to 3.4 million tonnes as against the same period of
2009 and of gas - by 2.6 percent to 54.92 billion cubic meters.
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