CDB provides $85 million loan for Mubarek Gas Chemical Complex Project

In 2009, China Development Bank and the National Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan signed an $85 million loan agreement for the construction of a propane-butane mixing unit at the Mubarek Gas Processing Plant. This loan carried the following borrowing terms: a 9 year maturity, a 2 year grace period, a 6.2% interest rate, a 1.5% management fee, and a 0.5% commitment fee. Uzpromstoybank JSC provided a guarantee for the loan. The purpose of the project was to construct a gas chemical complex that is is located in the city of Muborek within the Kashkadarya (also spelled as Qashqadaryo) region of Uzbekistan. The plant was eventually expected to produce 492,000 tons of polyethylene, 66,000 tons of condensate gas and tonnes of pyrolized petroleum a year. Zeromax GmbH (Switzerland) was the contractor responsible for project implementation. Its work was supervised by Uzbekneftegaz. This project was completed on May 14, 2013.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 穆巴列克天然气加工厂合. The Russian project title is «Строительство установки пропан-бутановой смеси для увеличения производства сжиженного газа на УДП «Мубарекский ГПЗ». 2. As this project neared completion, a joint venture (special purpose vehicle) called UzIndoramaGasChemical was established by Uzbekneftegas NHC and Singapore's Indorama Group for continued investment in Mubarek Gas Processing Plant Project. In May 2012, Uzbekneftegaz and Indorama Group (Singapore) established the joint venture. Then, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed an MOU with this joint venture in September 2013 in order to participate in the gas chemical project, but its involvement in the project did not become official in 2014. 3. This project is also known as the Mubarek Gas Chemical Complex Project. 4. It is not clear if the National Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan used the proceeds of the CDB loan to on-lend to UzIndoramaGasChemical. This issue warrants further investigation.

Number of official sources

9

Number of total sources

14