(RIA Novosti) – LUKoil Overseas head Andrey Kuzyayev declared that Russia’s largest privately-owned oil company LUKoil will launch the active phase of its projects in Uzbekistan in 2013.

“The peak of investment activity for current projects in Uzbekistan is expected in 2013-2017,” Kuzyayev said.

According to Uzbekistan’s 2013 state investment program, LUKoil plans to invest US $678.5 mln in its projects in the Central Asian country next year, including $392.3 bln for projects at the Kandym gas field in the Bukhara District and gas prospecting at the Ustyurt Plateau. A total of $286.2 mln will be invested in developing deposits at the Gissar Range.

The different participations of LUKoil in Uzbekistan are:

• Aral – In August 2006 the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for exploration and subsequent development of newly-discovered hydrocarbon fields in the Uzbek section of the Aral Sea was signed between the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Consortium of Investors in Tashkent. Intensive exploration continues in the largely unexplored contract area.
• Kungrad – The Kungrad block is located in Karakalpakstan in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Exploration is currently being conducted in the block. Complex interpretation of seismic, logging and drilling data has resulted in significant clarification of the block’s geological structure; estimation of hydrocarbon resources is in progress.
• Kandym-Khauzak-Shady – The Agreement on the Kandym-Khauzak-Shady project was signed on June 16, 2004, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov. In November 2007 the Khauzak gas field was put into operation. The Kandym and Khauzak-Shady fields are located next to each other, close to the Uzbekistan–Turkmenistan border.
• Southwest Gissar

LUKoil has already extracted 15 bln m³ in Uzbekistan, with an estimated 2012 output of 4.1 bln m³. The total of investments adjusted for inflation of relevant PSAs exceeds $5.5 bln, making the Company the largest investor in the economy of Uzbekistan.