The Bukhara Oil Refinery plans to more than double its annual output of petroleum products under a project with a preliminary cost of $1.8 billion, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s press office said on Thursday.

Construction is due to begin in 2028, with the refinery planning to work with leading technology companies from China, France, the United States and Azerbaijan, the statement said.

New processing units and modern refining and petrochemical technologies are to lift annual output from 2.1 million to 4.6 million tonnes. Gasoline production is to reach 2.7 million tonnes, diesel 1.24 million tonnes and jet fuel 500,000 tonnes. The refinery also plans to start producing benzene and other petrochemicals.

A separate $328 million project to produce AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline meeting the Euro-5 standard is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2029, with capacity of 1.1 million tonnes a year. The press office said it would save up to $150 million annually by reducing imports of fuel additives and create 200 jobs.

Mirziyoyev toured the refinery during a visit to Bukhara province on Nov 3. It was reported then that the $328 million comprises $49 million of the company’s own funds and $279 million in foreign loans.

The refinery was commissioned in 1997 and is designed to process 2.5 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate a year. It employs more than 3,200 people.

In the first nine months of this year, it processed more than 1.5 million tonnes of feedstock and produced nearly 1.5 million tonnes of petroleum products. Net profit was 2.2 trillion soums. The refinery aims to reach 2.17 million tonnes of processing and 2.12 million tonnes of output by year-end.