Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev recently signed a decree forming a task force charged with increasing domestic production of strategically important products such as natural gas engine oils, according to Uzbeknefegaz.
These oils will be used for safe and continuous operation of natural gas engines in compression systems in refineries operated by the state-owned oil and gas company at the cities of Fergana and Buhara.
“We are in talks to localize the production of this oil that is currently imported,” the company said in an Oct. 24 news release. “Uzbkeneftegaz uses the product in more than 100 gas engines.”
Chilon Lubricants, which operates a blending plant in the capital of Tashkent with capacity to make 4,000 metric tons per year of lubricants, has been tasked to organize production of SAE-40 grade gas engine oils. The company received the assignment after the governmental task force visited the blending plant last week.
Chilon officials said the lubricants in question will be made with domestic base oils and Western lubricant additives, following formulas for finished products that have been approved for use in the equipment.
The company analyze the oils in an accredited laboratory and monitoring them at Uzbkeneftegaz gas extraction sites.
Uzbekistan has two base oil plants. The largest is a 450,000 t/y API Group I plant at Uzbekneftegaz’s Fergana refinery. A joint venture between the government refiner and Bulgaria’s Prista Oil operates a 30,000 t/y Group I and II rerefinery 220 kilometers away in the industrial town of Angren.