July 2, 2014
INVESTMENTS: OIL AND GAS SECTOR.. 2
Uzbek universities to accept over 62,907 students in 2014/2015 academic year5
INVESTMENTS: OIL AND GAS SECTOR
More innovation
Although alternative energy sectors have been on the advance today, almost any nation’s main energy structures are still made up of their oil and gas industries. While maintaining them, it is important not to become dependent only on oil and gas extraction, as in the case of many Middle East and CIS countries. However, it is impossible to suspend it completely so far. The substantial shift of some European countries to alternative energy sources has caused systemic imbalances and energy crises in them. Therefore, modern economies should strike a golden mean: mankind needs oil and gas badly, but the right future of oil and gas industries lies in the area of high technology processing and developing new products.
Many people think that oil and gas are primary products used for heating, electricity generation and making fuel for motor vehicles, aircraft and some other machinery and equipment. However, oil and gas are also valuable raw materials to produce plastics, rubbers, organic acids and many other goods – through sophisticated technologies. Therefore, building oil and gas extraction infrastructures is not enough. It is also very important to set up modern processing factories to manufacture a vide variety of products from oil and gas, which is one of the strategic goals of many economies today. With regard to this, Uzbekistan is one of the world’s leaders.
The history of Uzbekistan’s oil and gas industry is around 130 years old. They first began drawing oil from two wells near the village of Chimion in Farghona Valley in 1885. In 1900, they carried out a thorough geological survey of the area and, four years later, opened a 270-meter-deep flowing oil well there. However, they still could not use the crude oil from it to make many things then – until they built an oil refinery in Farghona Valley in 1906. This first Uzbek oil refinery had primitive equipment, and they used quite simple technologies at it, but it proved that the local oil was fit for making lamp oil and heating residue fuel oil that were in a great demand in those times
Then, they did not have oil delivery pipelines yet. They used to pour the oil into barrels and other containers, load them onto wagons and drove them to the refinery. The efficiency of this process was very low, but it was profitable nonetheless. They did not know how to use petrol then, by the way, and burned it in large pits at the refinery. Only ten years later, when the first motor vehicles came to Central Asia, industrial production of petrol started in Uzbekistan. The products of the refinery were in demand in the neighboring countries, namely Afghanistan and China, and were exported there, which helped the refinery to grow. In 1907, engineers built a four-inch pipeline running from Chimion well to the refinery, as well as a tank farm. By 1940, the refinery had had a laboratory and much more sophisticated equipment; its annual output had reached 176,000 tons.
When it comes to natural gas production, Uzbekistan did not start it a long time ago. The first Uzbek natural gas was extracted in the Qizilqum Desert in 1953. With the unique gas field Gazli opened in 1962, local engineers built the gas pipelines Bukhoro – Urals and Central Asia – Center. Today, Uzbekistan still uses them to export natural gas to Russia.
In the 1990s, when the country had just become independent, it needed a new policy for the industry. Uzbekistan concentrated its efforts on increasing the production of its hydrocarbons to guarantee its fuel and energy security. In May 1992, President Islam Karimov signed a decree on the establishment of the Uzbek national oil and gas corporation, Uzbekneftegaz. This state-owned and vertically integrated company started the strategic development of the country’s oil and gas industry. In 1998, Uzbekneftegaz became a national holding company. Thanks to its activities, the country has got new modern oil refineries and gas processing plants, boosting compressor stations, gas storage facilities, hundreds of kilometers of oil and gas pipelines, and many more other oil and gas structures since independence.
Some of the oil and gas projects being carried out in Uzbekistan have been acknowledged as ones of global importance. Among them stands out the construction of Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex on Surgil field. Several reputable rating agencies and industry’s periodicals have had it high in their rankings and competitions. Just a few months ago, the project won ‘Global Oil and Gas Deal of the Year 2014’ from the prominent international Infrastructure Journal, for instance. The project deserved it because it is the first oil and gas project of such a scale in Central Asia and the CIS. Its completion will allow for annual production of 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 400,000 tons of high-density polyethylene, 100,000 tons of polypropylene and 110,000 tons of pyrolysis gasoline as of 2016, with over a thousand new jobs opened. The total cost of the project exceeds $3.9 billion. It is being implemented by the consortium of South Korean KOGAS, Lotte, STX Energy and Uzbekistan’s Uzbekneftegaz, which are investing $1.4 billion in it. Another $2.5 billion are to be attracted from leading international credit and finance institutions and commercial banks.
Another future giant of the industry is Oltin Yo’l GTL, a synthetic liquid fuel plant being constructed in Qashqadaryo Region. Its products are going to have a number of advantages: its diesel fuel, for instance, will have low emission rate and contain almost no sulfur. When used, it allows for longer operation of engines and longer periods between replacement of lubricants; its combustion rate is much higher, and it is never so polluting as conventional fuels. The plant is also going to produce aviation fuel as well as naphtha – the best primary product for ethylene cracking used in the petrochemical industry for production of polyethylene, polystyrene and other derivatives widely used in manufacture of various products.
Uzbekistan’s oil and gas industry shows best of all how effective cooperation with foreign investors can be. Today, there are representative offices and joint ventures of the world’s largest oil and gas companies in the country: Gazprom and Lukoil from Russia; CNPC from China; KNOC, KOGAS, Lotte Chemical, and STX Energy from South Korea; Sasol from South Africa; Indorama Group from Singapore; PVEP from Vietnam; and others. Lukoil, for instance, invested over $3.7 billion in various projects in Uzbekistan. This company is actively developing Qandim group of fields and building a gas processing plant in Bukhoro Region. In the next five years, it is planning to invest another $5 billion in Uzbekistan. Altogether, 16 projects are being implemented in the country’s oil and gas industry under the Investment Program in the current year. Their total cost is $19.3 billion.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
innovations
Innovation as a priority
Innovations, novelties, know-how – these are all engineering-technical and technological inventions and processes that characterize the development and advancement of manufacturing and the economy at large towards scientific-technical progress. That’s why, perhaps, innovations are frequently treated as the cause and effect, or as the beginning and outcome of scientific-technical progress. To be more exact, innovations mean novelties in the field of technology, engineering, organization of labour and management, based on the exploitation of scientific achievements and advanced experience, as well as the use of these innovations in economic practice.
Thanks to innovations and know-how, the European countries, and lately those located in Asia, have scored big successes not only in science and technology, but also in economic activity. Moreover, some of them have even become globally recognized leaders. These include South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, dubbed in the international arena as “the Asian tigers”.
Provided below are several indicators that support this view. As for South Korea, it is now ranked 11th in the world in terms of GDP. Singapore leads the globe in the production of hard computer discs (accounting for half of the total world volume). In addition, it is a big exporter of watches, TV sets and radio receivers. Today, the country is busy creating science-intensive industries and high technologies. Taiwan is a large exporter of capital, computer equipment and consumer electronics. It is one of the global leaders in the production of sports yachts, footwear, especially sports shoes, sports clothes and sports kit (such as tennis rackets, balls etc.). Hong Kong is the world’s tenth largest player in international trade. Besides, it is the 11th biggest banking centre in the world. The Hong Kong currency market, alongside those operating in Japan and Singapore, is one of the largest in Asia to date. In addition, the country has a developed tourist industry, with annual tourist numbers exceeding 10million.
All these states have achieved spectacular economic and innovative successes over a relatively short period, to be more exact, in the course of 15-20 years. They have made a real breakthrough from a traditionally agricultural economy to a highly industrialized one, building their economies into the world economic system and positioning themselves as prominent players in the international financial-economic marketplace.
The Republic of Uzbekistan doesn’t shun any of the positive global processes and trends. As President Islam Karimov emphasizes in his book “Uzbekistan: its own model of transition to market relationships”, “We don’t preclude the possibility of using all positive experience that has been amassed in the process of development and which is applicable to the Republic’s conditions. At the same time, the blind imitation of one or another model is absolutely unacceptable. The unique path chosen by Uzbekistan is aimed at the formation of a socially-oriented market economy, which is up to the country’s interests, conditions and peculiarities in full measure”.
And the country has been following its own chosen path for over two decades already. The state is devoting a great deal of attention to scientific and innovative developments that prove essential for the practical solution of such tasks as the economic transformation, inculcation in production of latest technologies, renovation of obsolete capital assets and production capacities, and achievement of an increase in quality and competitiveness of indigenous goods. A package of measures to be taken on this front are reflected in a number of legislative documents, including Presidential Resolutions, “On measures to improve coordination and control over the development of science and technology” as of 7th August 2006, and “On additional measures to stimulate the introduction of innovative projects and technologies in manufacturing” as of 15th July 2008.
The great strides made by the Republic of Uzbekistan over the years of its development as a sovereign independent nation allow us to conclude that the country has been successfully shaping not only a market-oriented economy, but also an economy based on innovations. This is helped by the realization of comprehensive state, sectoral and regional programs of modernization, and technical and technological re-equipment, which are supplemented, at the level of large-scale industrial enterprises and production associations, by diversification and localization measures. Topping the list is the State Program “On priorities of development in the manufacturing industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the period 2011-2015”. A given document provides for the implementation of upwards of 5—investment projects, to the tune of US $50 billion.
The realization of this Program has already resulted in the creation of new production facilities and modernization of existing enterprises. As a consequence, the processing industries represent an increasing share in the structure of national manufacturing. For now, it already accounts for more than 78 per cent of all industrial output produced in the country. The last three years have seen a 2-fold rise in the production volume of localized produce. In 2013, 455 domestic enterprises have implemented over 1,140 localization projects, enabling them to boost their output by 1.2 times as much and saving a total of US $5.3 billion as a result of import substitution. Modernization and technical re-equipment projects have been brought about at 21 enterprises in the food industry. In a word, almost all sectors of the national economy are proceeding along the road of innovation, expansion and development.
In his books and addresses, the Uzbek President reiterates that “without investments, there is no progress, there is no technical and technological renovation and modernization of production and the country as a whole”. It appears that a given Presidential thesis can be fully applied to innovations, which are critical to the technical and economic progress. Innovation is a driving force behind all the endeavors to develop the economy and to create civilized society.
Special note should be made of the role of science and scientific research, which mark the beginning of most innovative developments. In the first place, this concerns the scientific research carried out at higher educational establishments and special research institutions. To illustrate, let’s take the Tashkent Chemical-Technological Institute. As well as teaching students, it is performing research work in the field of creation of up-to-date technologies for the chemical, oil-and-gas, metallurgical, construction and food industries. Another example is the Uzbek Scientific-Research Institute of Natural Fibers, whose specialists have elaborated a way to make silk linen from cocoons that resist unwinding. The Institute of Geology and Prospecting for Oil and Gas Fields has worked out a program complex for the creation of three-dimensional digital geological models of oil and gas deposits, which significantly increase the trustworthiness of data processing and calculations. A new, more effective lubricant for traction reducers of railway locomotives, automobiles and tractors have been invented by scientists from the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry. The Ekolog-Project Program Complex, created at the Tashkent University of Information Technologies, will make it possible to take decisions on the optimal distribution of projected industrial enterprises.
Similar examples are thick on the ground. And what is noteworthy in this connection is that it is not only large enterprises that use such investment developments in practice. Small-scale and private enterprises, characterized by greater mobility, manoeurability and quick response to any changes in the market situation, are also demonstrating their interest in them. It can be deduced that small and private enterprises need innovations to an even higher degree than their bigger counterparts. Without innovations, small and private enterprises, as active market participants, may not only worsen their indicators of economic activity, but also lose their clientele or, speaking scientifically, consumer demand.
In that way, novelties and innovations remain a priority to date, as all sorts of enterprises – big and small, state-run and privately-owned – need them very much. Innovation is a sure-fire way to progress and prosperity.
(Source: “Bizness Partner.uz” newspaper)
Society
Uzbek universities to accept over 62,907 students in 2014/2015 academic year
Higher educational establishments of Uzbekistan will admit over 62,907 students in 2014/2015 academic year.
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a resolution “On admission to higher education establishments of Uzbekistan in 2013/2014 academic year” on 26 June 2014. The document set admission quotas for universities. The quota for new education year was not changed.
In line with the resolution, the Uzbek universities will accept 56,907 people to Bachelor degree courses, including 19,120 – on state grants and 37,787 people – on payment-contract base.
In 2014/2015 academic year, the quota for admission to Master degree courses makes up 5000 people, including 1,548 people – on state grants and 3,452 people – on payment-contract base.
Correspondence department of Kungrad branch of Tashkent chemical-technologic institute will admit 65 students to Bachelor department on state grants, while Tashkent information Technologies University – 50 students, including 15 on state grants and 35 on payment-contract base.
(Source: UzDaily.com)