The key facts

  • Uzbekneftegaz denied submitting a proposal to return the Fergana Refinery to its ownership
  • The Agency for State Assets Management is considering several options: management, return to Uzbekneftegaz, privatization, attracting investors
  • The plant returned to state ownership in June 2026 after the contract with Saneg was terminated

Refutation at a press conference

Uzbekneftegaz did not put forward a proposal to return the Fergana oil refinery (Fergana Refinery) to its ownership. This was stated on October 27 at a press conference by the company's first deputy chairman of the board, Sukhrob Khamraev, as reported by Spot.uz. 'On our part, no such proposal [to return it] was made,' he emphasized.

Who decides what

According to Khamraev, options for the plant's future are currently being considered by the Agency for State Assets Management. Among the scenarios under discussion are keeping the plant under the agency's management, returning it to Uzbekneftegaz, to which the Fergana Refinery previously belonged, privatization, and attracting investors. No final decision has been made yet, and the plant remains under the agency's control.

How the plant returned to the state

Context explains why the question of a return is being discussed at all. In early June 2026, it became known that the Fergana Refinery had fully returned to state ownership: previously, 58.5% of the plant belonged to the Agency for State Assets Management and 41.5% to Sanoat Energetika Guruhi (Saneg), which had bought the plant in 2022 for $100 million with an obligation to invest $380 million in modernization. In January 2026, the Cabinet of Ministers instructed that new investors be brought in for Saneg's strategic projects, including the modernization of the Fergana Refinery. The agency's head, Sokhibzhon Murodov, explained the termination of the contract with the investor by the company's financial difficulties in other projects, which affected the fulfillment of its payment obligations.

What is known about investor interest

In parallel, Spot.uz reported that the American Gulf Oil is assessing the prospects of opening filling stations in Uzbekistan; the publication does not directly link this to the fate of the Fergana Refinery. Thus, at this point it is only confirmed that no decision on the plant's future has been made and the matter rests with the agency, while statements about specific scenarios — including a return to Uzbekneftegaz — remain subjects of consideration rather than adopted decisions.