Ralif Nigmatullin, Tashkent

In August 2017, a full 10 years after the Southwest Gissar Joint Production Agreement was signed in Uzbekistan, LUKOIL reached its projected annual output level of 5 billion cubic meters of gas – a major milestone for the project. Southwest Gissar had delivered early gas back in 2011 from the DzharkudukYangi Kyzylcha reservoir. By 2016 annual gas production had reached 1.4 billion cubic meters. As part of the Gissar Full Development project, two more major reservoirs were brought into production: Adamtash and Gumbulak.

LUKOIL was able to complete construction on an entire series of major production and technological facilities: a complex gas treatment plant at Dzharkuduk with a nominal annual capacity of 4.4 billion cubic meters of gas, a preliminary gas processing terminal with an annual capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas and four gas gathering stations.

Total investments into the project have exceeded $1 billion.

Construction work for the project was carried out in difficult climactic and geographical conditions: the Gissar reservoirs are located in a mountainous region at varying altitudes. Hence reliable transportation infrastructure was a major concern throughout the process.

Over 3,750 workers, including contractors, participated at various stages of construction. To complete the project on schedule, many of them remained on-shift for months at a time.

The gas from Gissar will be exported under the commission agreement with the state companies Uzbekneftegaz / Uztransgaz.

Another major LUKOIL project in Uzbekistan, Kandym Full Development, is also approaching completion. The Kandym Gas Processing Plant, the project’s most important production facility, is expected to be launched in December 2017. It will have an annual capacity of 8 billion cubic meters.