Uzbekistan eyes gas-driven downstream growth
New investment in gas-to-chemicals capacity could add value to an economy hobbled by declining Chinese import appetite
Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh Petroleum has firmed up plans to invest in a new state-of-the-art gas-to-chemicals complex, providing a welcome boost to the central Asian nation’s economic prospects in a year that has seen plunging gas exports to China. The joint venture between NOC Uzbekneftegaz and a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom will build a 500,000t/yr capacity olefins plant, based on methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology. It will process 1.5bn m³/yr of gas and manufacture high-quality polymers—supplying products to textile, processing, automotive, pharmaceutical and other industries. The facility is scheduled to start up in 2025 and will focus on production of low-density polyethylene, ethylene-vi
Also in this section
16 December 2025
How New Zealand highlights the importance of a clear, consistent and considered approach to oil and gas
16 December 2025
The December 2025/January 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
16 December 2025
Oil prices look set to come under pressure next year as oversupply hits, but longer-term the risk is underinvestment as demand continues to grow past 2030
16 December 2025
Abdullah Aljarboua serves as a senior fellow in the energy macro & microeconomics programme at KAPSARC. His work spans macroeconomics, energy-economic modelling, large-scale optimisation and advanced computational techniques for modelling complex energy policy dynamics. Here he speaks with Petroleum Economist about the Gulf region’s role in shaping the energy landscape over the coming decades
