Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov and Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Gulomzhon Ibrahimov opened a used oil recycling plant in Uzbekistan on May 18.

The Uzbek-Bulgarian joint venture Uz-Prista Recycling was created by a Presidential Decree by the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Bulgaria’s Prista Recycling owns 51% and Uznefteprodukt , a subsidiary of Uzbekneftegaz, owns 49% of the joint venture.

The ceremony marked the beginning of the 20th “Oil and Gas Uzbekistan” international conference and exhibition, which was held in the capital of Tashkent, with more than 200 companies from 26 countries participating.

The Bulgarian-Uzbek plant is located in the town of Angren, Tashkent Region. The opening was broadcast live via a video link to the conference.

“Even today we witness innovation – rather than travel to the factory we managed to connect today’s conference through video link with a Bulgarian-Uzbek investment in energy efficiency, which leads to environmental protection, oil recycling and production and new jobs, ” said Borisov.

“The decision to build such an installation first in Uzbekistan is clearly logical – first of all Prista Oil  through its company Uz-Prista, has established itself as a leading local manufacturer of lubricants. On the other hand, the Uzbekistan market is big enough to cover the plant’s needs for oils for recycling,” said Bobokov.

The total amount of the investment in the plant is about USD 19 million, which is designed to process 40,000 tonnes of waste oil annually.

Bulgaria’s Prista Recycling is the owner of the patented recycling technology. Prista Recycling participated not only as an investor, but also as a co-contractor, and provided overall engineering for the project.