Lukoil Launches Uzbek Gas Expansion

Russian independent Lukoil said August 22 it has launched the main gas production and process facilities at its South-West Gissar project in Uzbekistan.

They include a 4.4bn m³/yr gas treatment, a gas pre-treatment unit and four gas-gathering stations. It said that as a result, gas production at the Gissar fields cluster reached planned production level of 5bn m³/yr; as of today there are 37 producing wells.

Lukoil entered the South-West Gissar project in 2008; the licence area, in Kashkadarya region, includes seven fields and the production-sharing agreement was signed 2007 and runs until 2043. Lukoil’s share is 100% and it produced 1.7bn m³/yr there in 2016 (its net share was 1.5bn m³/yr). It said the latest development also required construction of two power substations, 300 km of high-voltage power lines, and 126 km of roads.

Initial gas production at South-West Gissar by Lukoil began 2011. Oil is supplied to the Bukhara and Fergana refineries via the Shurtan terminal; sales gas is sold in three export directions including the north (Russia, Gazprom), south (Kazakhstan, Gazprom) and east (China, Petrochina).

This April, Lukoil reached a production landmark of 40bn m³ gas in Uzbekistan, 82% of which was produced at the Khauzak-Shady and Kuvachi-Alat fields in Bukhara province. 

Mark Smedley