A major oil refinery, built in 2018 within the Danghara Free Economic Zone (FEZ Danghara), began operating in test mode at the end of last year, Zavqi Zavqizoda, Tajikistan's Minister of Economic Development and Trade, told reporters in Dushanbe on February11.
“Last year, 1,622 tons of semi-processed oil were imported, from which 800 tons of gasoline were produced,” the minister stated.
The Tajik authorities expect the refinery to become fully operational this year.
“We will make every effort to ensure that this enterprise, into which Chinese investors have invested US$100 million, does not remain idle," Zavqizoda added.
Last week, Sherali Kabir, the Minister of Industry and New Technologies, also announced at a news conference in Dushanbe that the refinery in FEZ Danghara is planned to be launched this year.
According to him, agreements have been reached with the Russian company Tatneft and Azerbaijan's oil and gas company SOCAR to supply raw materials to the plant.
A long-delayed project finally moves forward
Construction of the refinery, with a projected capacity of 1.2 million tons of oil per year, began in 2014 in the FEZ Danghara. The plant was built by the Tajik-Chinese joint venture TK-Oil, established by Chinese company Dong Ying Heli Investment and Development, and was completed in 2018. However, since then, the facility has remained idle due to a lack of affordable oil supplies.
Over the years, there have been discussions about importing oil for the refinery from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran, but the issue remains unresolved.
Independent experts had been skeptical about building a large oil refinery in a country that lacks significant oil reserves.
Meanwhile, Chinese investors had initially planned to construct another refinery in the FEZ Panj, but they later abandoned the idea.
Zavqi Zavqizoda told Asia-Plus that a memorandum with Chinese investors was signed last year. However, after conducting an economic analysis, the investors shifted their focus in Tajikistan and have now turned to producing ceramic products instead.
Oil production and imports in Tajikistan
In 2024, oil production in Tajikistan amounted to just 16,000 tons, which can cover only 1.5% of the Danghara refinery’s demand.
Last year, the country produced approximately 3,600 tons of gasoline and 3,000 tons of diesel fuel.
Meanwhile, according to Tajikistan’s Antimonopoly Agency, the country imported over 1 million tons of petroleum products and around 370,000 tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2024.
Russia remained the main supplier of petroleum products, while Kazakhstan was the leading supplier of LNG to Tajikistan.
