The Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) has accomplished its 10-year energy project in Uzbekistan, The Korea Times reported on August 31, 2017.
The Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex is the biggest petrochemical plant in Central Asia.
The Surgil project was launched in 2006 by a Korean consortium comprising Lotte Chemical, Korea Gas Corporation and GS E&R.
The consortium established a joint venture, the UZ-Kor Gas Chemical LLC, with Uzbekistan state-run company UNG.
The Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex will annually produce 3 million tonnes of natural gas and 470,000 tonnes of polymer, a large molecule composed of many repeated subunits.
Polymer is mostly exported to China, Turkey and East European countries, and most of the natural gas goes to Russia.
3 Korean firms, GS E&C, Hyundai Engineering and Samsung Engineering, built a plant and associated facilities near the gas field to produce and manufacture ethylene.
A total of 412 small and medium-size companies participated in the project, with about 1,500 jobs created.
KOGAS expects the Surgil project to make about 60 billion won annual profit and to boost co-operation between the two countries.
Cooperation between Korea and Uzbekistan to explore oil and gas fields began after the presidents of both countries adopted a strategic partnership in March 2006.
This has paved the way for Korean companies to develop natural resources in Uzbekistan.
Korea and Uzbekistan established ties in 1992.
