Technology Agreement Signed for Major SAF Project in Uzbekistan

South African chemicals and energy company Sasol and Danish technology provider Topsoe have signed a licensing and engineering agreement with Allied Biofuels for a sustainable aviation fuel production facility in Uzbekistan’s Khorezm region.

The agreement covers the core technology licence, engineering design package and technical services required for the project’s SAF and electro-sustainable aviation fuel, or eSAF, production pathway. It is therefore more accurately described as a technology and engineering agreement rather than simply an equipment supply contract.

The facility is part of an integrated clean-fuels development estimated to cost approximately US$6.1 billion. It is being developed by Allied Biofuels, an Australian-backed company registered in Uzbekistan.

I have previously noted that the project still raises questions. Allied Biofuels is a relatively little-known developer proposing an exceptionally large and technically complex investment. Its ability to arrange financing and deliver the project at the announced scale has yet to be demonstrated. Uzbekistan is also landlocked and located far from Europe’s largest aviation-fuel markets, meaning that export logistics and transportation costs could have a substantial influence on the project’s competitiveness.