President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the Nov. 17 government meeting touched upon the implementation of major industrial projects in the Surkhandarya province.

“I came to Surkhandarya for the third time this year with very great intentions and clear plans for our people to improve livelihoods,” his spokesman Sherzod Asadov quoted the president.

On Thursday, the president took a detailed look at four new large industrial projects worth $3.3 billion in Surkhandarya. In particular, in connection with the launch of the gas chemical complex in Baysun in 2024, worth almost $3 billion, the following is expected:

• purification of 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, production of natural gas and sulfur for 6 trillion soums;
• additional export income for Surkhandarya by an average of $120 million per year;
• expansion of geological exploration, discovery of gas reserves of another 100 billion cubic meters, achievement of complete oil independence of the country in 2-3 years.

Now the 25 Years of Independence (M-25) complex is employing 7,000 people. 

Reportedly, an 85 MW power plant was also built on the site. It produces electricity not only for the needs of the complex, but also for the entire population of Baysun.

The Saneg began developing an oil shale deposit in Baysun district of Surkhandarya province. The shale ore development project was presented to Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a visit to the mining and chemical complex on November 16. According to the results of geological exploration, the deposit's reserves are estimated at 55 million tons of C1 category shale ore, the company noted.

Saneg Deputy General Director for Development of Strategic Projects Azizbek Nazarov said that research on the geological structure, depth and area of distribution of shale is ongoing at the site. According to him, the field's reserves in the future could reach up to 400 million tons.

Topographic surveys, electrical prospecting, and drilling of exploration wells worth more than $10 million are planned in the next few years to achieve this.

The company wants to start processing shale ore to produce synthetic oil, gas and generate electricity. By the end of 2024, it is planned to launch four installations using circulating fluidized bed technology (TsKS-1500). Each of them will be able to process up to 1.5 million tons of shale ore per year to produce 800 thousand tons of oil, 300 million cubic meters of gas and 150 MW of electricity.

In the next five years, Saneg expects to increase the number of TsKS-1500 units to 25. They will be able to process up to 37.5 million tons of raw materials annually.

In 2024 it is planned to increase oil supplies from Russia to Uzbekistan through the territory of Kazakhstan to 1 million tons. This is more than three times the volume of oil that was planned to be imported in 2023 (300 thousand tons).

At the beginning of 2023, the volume of gasoline imports to Uzbekistan increased several times. In the first four months, 335.2 million liters were supplied, which is almost 2 times more than in the whole of last year. The total import value was $136.67 million, or $0.4 per liter. Almost the entire volume came from Russia.