Lukoil, Uzbekneftegaz start up Kandym gas processing complex

Russia’s privately held PJSC Lukoil and Uzbekistan’s National Holding Co. Uzbekneftegaz have commissioned their jointly owned Kandym gas processing complex in southwestern Uzbekistan’s province of Bukhara, about 520 km southwest of Tashkent (OGJ Online, Apr. 19, 2016).

Designed to convert sour natural gas from the Kandym development’s six gas condensate Kandym, Kuvachi-Alat, Akkum, Parsanal, Khoji, and West Khoji fields to marketable gas, stable gas condensate, and marketable sulfur, the newly commissioned 8.1 million-cu m/year was completed exactly 2 years from start of construction and 8 months ahead of schedule, Lukoil and Uzbekneftegaz said in separate releases on Apr. 19.

Alongside the two-trained gas processing plant, the complex includes a gas gathering system and commodity export terminals.

The project also includes about 500 km of process and in-field pipelines, more than 280 km of roads, 272 km of overhead electric lines, 50 km of access railroad, and water pipelines.

With 77 wells currently drilled, the complex eventually will process gas feedstock from 114 producing wells combined from two collecting points within the six-field Kandym cluster, according to Lukoil and Uzbekneftegaz (OGJ Online, Feb. 24, 2017).

Total investment in the Kandym project exceeded $6 billion, Uzbekneftegaz said.

In a separate release on Apr. 19, Lukoil said it raised a 10-year, $660-million loan from ING Bank, UniCredit Bank, and Deutsche Bank to finance part of incurred construction costs for the Kandym gas plant.

Lukoil holds 90% interest in the Kandym project and Uzbekneftegaz holds 10% interest.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].