Uzbekistan to build $10bn chemicals production complex by 2028 in Khorezm

Uzbekistan has announced plans to build a $10bn chemicals production complex by 2028.

The 2.5mn tonne/year set of installations would be built in northwestern Khorezm region, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's office said on March 1.

Mirziyoyev discussed the project with government officials and a large foreign investor during a visit to the region, the office added. It did not name the potential foreign investor in the project, though bnn reported on March 1 that the local investor would be Uzkhimprom.

When fully built, the facility is expected to need a workforce of around 3,000.

The feedstock for the chemical production lines will be natural gas.

Uzbekistan’s gas production has been falling in recent years—it totalled 46.7bn cubic metres (bcm) last year, marking a decline of 9.6% y/y—but Tashkent has plans to boost imports of Russian gas.

Last week, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade said Uzbekistan and Russia are working on a plan to construct a gas chemical complex in the southwestern Uzbek region of Bukhara.

It might be argued that Uzbekistan’s neighbour Kazakhstan is far better placed to expand its chemical and petrochemical industries given its abundant domestic gas resources from which producers can source comparatively cheap gas feedstock.