OREANDA-NEWS. December 09, 2013. President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov met with President of the Lukoil Petroleum Company Vagit Alekperov at the Oqsaroy .

Lukoil is one of the major investors in Uzbekistan’s fuel and energy sector. According to the leadership of the company, the cooperation has succeeded owing primarily to the favorable investment environment reigning in Uzbekistan, the guarantees of economic stability as well as the vast capacities of the basic sector in the country.

President Islam Karimov noted that the effective conduct of geological prospecting works has allowed the Lukoil Petroleum Company to provide for a growth in hydrocarbon reserves and secure the status of a reliable partner with a high potential of cooperation.

The company has since 2007 invested 3 billion and 200 million US dollars into the extraction of oil and gas as well as development and use, while around 500 million dollars was devoted to these works in the first 9 months of this year.

The most priority policy is the development of Kandym group of deposits and preparations for the establishment of a consortium in support of building a gas reprocessing factory. During the talks, the two parties enquired in particular into the progress in projecting efforts and those concerning the construction of a modern gas reprocessing plant in Bukhara region. They also deliberated on issues around the enhancement of interaction in the development of Ustyurt deposits.

Currently, Lukoil has been running three rather promising projects in Uzbekistan. Notably, geological prospecting works have been carried out as part of the Product Sharing Agreement in the areas of Hauzak, Shady, Kungrad and Kandym group of deposits, as a result of which 18.5 billion cubic meters of gas has been extracted. And development works in the areas of Southwest Gissar and Ustyurt region have resulted in the production of 368.5 thousand tons of oil and two billion cubic meters of natural gas. As a party to the Consortium of Investors, Lukoil has been conducting seismic survey in the terrain of the Aral block, the efficiency of which is reflected in the mounting extraction of valuable crude.

As it was put, the implementation of a number of major schemes at the deposits of Bukhara-Khiva and other regions in 2014-2020 is anticipated to afford a new impetus for an enduring partnership. The company’s investment program is to account for some five billion dollars in the next five years.

It was underscored also that Lukoil has been attaching an immense significance to training specialists and promoting their potential, which includes education at the Tashkent branch of the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. The institution’s graduates – young, highly qualified specialists – are in demand today in leading corporations at the global market of hydrocarbons.

Vagit Alekperov expressed sincere gratitude to the head of our state for a friendly welcome, for an appreciation of the effects in Lukoil’s activities in the Uzbek hydrocarbon sector and the created conditions conducive for the implementation of mutually advantageous, wide-scale projects. The guest assured the host of the talks in the willingness of the company led by him to keep with the long-run and productive cooperation with Uzbek partners.