On May 18.2016, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov and Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Gulomzhon Ibrahimov in the presence of representatives of the shareholders Plamen Bobokov and Ivaylo Mandjukov opened a high-tech recycling plant 'Prista Recycling' in Uzbekistan.
The project is a result of the joint venture 'Uz - Prista Recycling' created by a decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It includes Bulgarian company 'Prista Recycling' with 51% and 'Uznefteprodukt', a subsidiary company of 'Uzbekneftegaz', with 49%. Major shareholders and investors in the new Bulgarian company 'Prista Recycling' AD are Bobokov brothers and Mandjukov family.
The ceremony marked the beginning of the 20th 'Oil and Gas Uzbekistan' international conference and exhibition. The jubilee edition of the forum was held in the capital of Tashkent with more than 200 companies from 26 countries participating. Bulgarian-Uzbek plant is located in the town of Angren, Tashkent Region and its opening was held by direct video link.
'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 job position,' said Prime Minister Borisov.
Plamen Bobokov said during the ceremony: 'As a socially responsible company, Prista Oil Holding and in particular my brother and I as majority shareholders, have been considering for a long time to invest in the process of oil recycling which can be used in our traditional oil production. It took us time to study and find a technological solution that meets our business needs and gives meaning to our investment plan. 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 lubricant. On the other hand Uzbekistan market is big enough to cover the plant's needs for oils for recycling.'
'And when we say 'recycling' our ambitions far do not stop here! We intend to build similar plants in of Asia and Africa in those countries that have big enough market and consumption. Besides the huge social impact, our investment there will produce feedstock for fresh base oils for local production of high quality lubricants and products with high added value for export activities', he continued.
The amount of total investment in the plant is about $19 million and provides for disclosure of directly employed 50 new specialists and another 150 positions for related activities. Head of successfully completed construction and commissioning of the plant in Uzbekistan is Ivaylo Mandjukov.
The capacity of the recycling plant is designed to process 40,000 tons of waste oil annually, of which up to 30,000 tons of fresh base oils, up to 6,000 tons of diesel fuel and 4,000 tons of asphalt fraction. That plan is up to 60% of fresh base oils to be used for production needs of Prista Oil in Central Asia and Ukraine, while the rest will be used in the production of 'Uz - Prista'. Diesel fuel and asphalt fraction is planned to be sold on the domestic market.
Bulgarian company 'Prista Recycling' is the owner of exclusive technology protected by US Patent Office for building oil recycling plants that have no analogue. That technology was used for the first time in Central Asia and CIS. The Company participated not only as an investor but also as co-contractor and provided an overall engineering project.
Prista Oil Holding bought Texaco Overseas Holdings 50.1% controlling stake in the former Uz-Texaco joint venture in Uzbekistan, in November 2011, renamed Uz-Prista. Uz-Texaco JV was founded in 1997 by Uzbekistan's state-owned Uzbeknefteprodukt JSC, the then downstream arm of energy giant Uzbekneftegaz and Chevron.
