BackgroundUztransgaz (‘UTG’) is the national gas transmission company of Uzbekistan; responsible for gas deliveries to large end-users and the gas distribution sector in the country; as well as gas export and transit flows to neighboring countries. UTG must manage its assets and carry out its services as efficiently as possible; both financially and technically; which is reflected in a series of legal and regulatory provisions . At the same time; the company operates a large; legacy asset base from Soviet times; which no longer meets modern international gas industry standards; and which suffers from inadequate flow metering; inefficient fuel consumption; and gas leakages.木瓜影院 (‘Bank’) has been an important partner of the Government of Uzbekistan (‘GoU’) for the rehabilitation and modernization of the country’s gas sector within the context of a long-term low-carbon development pathway for the country; through multiple large lending programs and advisory services and analytics. In 2023; against the backdrop of the gas and energy crisis during the winter of 2022/2023; the Ministry of Economy and Finance (‘MoEF’) requested support from the Bank to help state-owned entities (‘SOEs’) in the gas sector reduce the own use of gas as fuel for operations and gas leakage. An initial pilot project addressing this request (‘Phase I’) carried out by the Bank together with UTG in 2023; concluded that around 700 million m3 of gas per year is currently unaccounted for. This includes both ‘technical losses’ (that is; gas leaking to the atmosphere) and ‘commercial losses’ (that is; gas inadequately and inaccurately metered). On-site analytical work at four UTG locations during Phase 1; conducted by a specialized contractor commissioned by the Bank; identified methane emissions amounting to 39 million m3 per year. Extrapolated to the entire gas transport system of UTG; this suggests that total identifiable technical losses would be about 350 million m3 per year; that is; about half of the unaccounted-for gas . Using a methane global warming potential of 28; this would be equivalent to approximately 30 million tonnes of CO2e through 2030. These numbers warrant a broader and deeper investigation; and call for urgent action to fix the leaks.Following Phase I; the Bank received a letter from the Minister of Energy (MoE); requesting additional technical and financial support to help the country’s SOEs in the gas sector to further identify and reduce significant gas losses; and associated financial losses and greenhouse gas emissions; as part of the Bank’s ongoing programmatic advisory services and analytics (PASA) program in the Uzbek gas sector. Following up on this request; a team of Bank staff and specialized consultants and contractors will work closely together with; and support UTG specialists to:? Identify the location; volume; and source of methane emissions using best available techniques; in line with OGMP 2.0 best practice at level 4.? Identify possible repair and replacement options to fix these leaks.? Estimate the costs of these measures and prepare tentative plans for implementation based on priorities to be determined by UTG.? Build institutional capacity within UTG for sustained asset management of the gas transport network at par with international best practice; in parallel to finding gas leaks; a key objective of this activity is to train selected UTG specialists on-the-job in the art of identifying; assessing; and addressing methane emissions from gas operations.The Bank intends to take a phased approach to providing this support. Phase IIA covers UTG assets at three selected facilities; Mubarek; Zirabuloq; and Hodjaabad (in the Navoiy and Samarkand regions). Phase IIA also covers a pilot activity on a 46 km section of the main transmission pipeline in Zirabuloq; with the goal to review UTG’s current practice to detect and assess gas leaks from pipelines; and to get an indication of the current volume of gas leakage from high-pressure pipelines across the country; so as to inform how much attention should be devoted to pipelines; as opposed to the facilities of the company; in subsequent phases. Please see Annex I for more detail. Coordinates and further details of these assets will be shared by UTG with the Bank and selected specialized consultants and contractors during the project on a confidential basis. After Phase IIA the Bank envisages to execute Phase IIB; extending the same support across all UTG facilities country wide; and implementing a leak detection and assessment program on the company’s pipelines. Phase IIB falls outside of the scope of the current terms of reference. The scope of Phase IIB will be informed by the results and findings of Phase IIA.Note: the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) has made satellite images available that show significant methane emissions in the vicinity of the Mubarek and Zirabuloq facilities. These images; which may be used as circumstantial evidence of the problem; will be shared with selected specialized consultants and contractors during the project on a confidential basis.This project to identify and assess methane emissions is an important step in reducing such emissions from the oil and gas sector in Uzbekistan; as well as in informing subsequent steps to be taken by the GoU. Envisaged next steps include not only the expansion of the scope to all UTG assets country-wide (consisting of over 13;000 km of pipelines; 3 underground storage units; and 23 compressor stations with 237 compressor units); but also to the development of leak repair projects and investment projects to further rehabilitate UTG’s transmission network by replacing aging equipment whose integrity has been compromised; as well as introducing systems and work processes to continuously monitor the company’s assets.The Bank is organizing a competitive tender to identify an oil and gas service company (‘the Contractor’) with experience in detecting; assessing; and addressing methane emissions from gas operations; and experience of working at oil and gas facilities in Uzbekistan; to carry out the scope of work and to produce the deliverables described in this document. The Contractor may subcontract qualified and specialized firms and individuals; and is in fact encouraged to do so to ensure that it can offer experience and world class expertise in critical areas; such as methane leak detection and repair in the oil and gas sector; gas pipeline integrity management; and asset management and operation of high-pressure gas transport pipelines. However; the Contractor will retain the sole responsibility for successful delivery of the work.GoalThe goal of this project is to provide advisory services and analytics to UTG and to the GoU to make an integral assessment of the current state of the company’s assets and its institutional capacity to detect; assess; and address gas leaks from operations.Scope of work for selected assets in Phase IIAFurther to the general description of the project above; the detailed scope of work is as follows.Selected UTG facilities:? In collaboration with; and supporting UTG specialists; to identify all methane emissions; quantify these; and determine their root causes. Technologies used should be tailored to the current condition of UTG’s assets; and may include satellites; helicopter- and drone-based; car-mounted; and hand-held technologies; and must be in line with OGMP 2.0 best practice at level 4.? In collaboration with; and supporting UTG specialists; to identify repair and/or replacement measures to reduce or eliminate identified methane missions and estimate the costs and duration of these measures. Proposed measures and their costs and duration will be reviewed and must be agreed by UTG as being technically feasible and realistic.? In collaboration with; and supporting UTG specialists; to assess repair and/or replacement measures against prioritization criteria yet to be detailed by UTG. Such criteria may include but are not limited to aspects like costs; achieved emission reduction; the financial and environmental benefits of achieved emission reduction; and ease of implementation of measures.? Support UTG specialists to make an implementation plan for selected measures using the established prioritization criteria; and recognizing operational constraints.Selected UTG pipeline segment:? Based on documentation and information provided by UTG; and international experience with inline and external inspection of pipeline integrity and above-ground detection of gas leaks from high-pressure pipelines; support UTG specialists to review UTG’s current practice for scheduled and/or condition- and risk-based internal and external inspection of its pipelines; and leak detection. Benchmark of existing procedures against international best practice in the gas industry. Identification of the gap; if any; between UTG’s current practice and best practice; and making suggestions for how UTG would be able to close such a gap; if applicable. Particular attention needs to be given to modern concepts of ‘risk-based’ and ‘condition-based’ asset management and how they might be used to improve UTG’s asset management.? In collaboration with; and supporting UTG specialists; to carry out a leak detection campaign on the selected pipeline segment using state-of-the-art technology; identify and assess gas leaks; and make suggestions for repair and/or replacement measures; including estimates of the tentative costs and duration of the works.? In collaboration with; and supporting UTG specialists; to carry out a desktop study based on the findings on the selected pipeline segment; and existing documentation and information from UTG; and using extrapolation; to make an overall estimate of the total expected number and volume of gas leaks from UTG pipelines; as well as tentative estimates of the total budget and time that would be required to inspect the entire high-pressure pipeline network in detail.General:? Review the institutional capability and human resources currently available within UTG for sustained maintenance of the gas transmission network with a focus on avoiding methane leaks. Identify gaps with international best practice. Make recommendations for required capacity building and necessary organizational changes.? Review the availability; accuracy; and working condition of permanently installed and movable leak detection equipment and capacity; either in-house or through vendor relationships that can be easily mobilized. Establish the gap with state-of-the-art equipment and best practice; and make recommendations for improvements; recognizing that UTG may want to join the OGMP 2.0 partnership and reach Level 4 within reasonable time.? Complementary to the on-the-job learning described above; conduct a series of classroom training sessions for UTG specialists on gas leak detection and assessment in line with the OGMP 2.0 standard.Deliverables? For each of the three sites; as well as the pipeline section; a site visit completion report which outlines the method; observations; and preliminary assessment of the data collected at the selected locations as described in the Scope of Work.? For each of the three sites; as well as the pipeline section; a detailed and prioritized work plan to implement measures including their estimated emission reduction; costs; and timeline as described in the Scope of Work.? Interim and final reports outlining the main findings and recommendations from the scope of work; including but not limited to an assessment of UTGs pipeline integrity management procedures and possible improvements thereof; and an assessment of the institutional capacity and human resources of UTG and available equipment to carry out sustained asset management and maintenance of the gas transport network in line with international best practice.? A series of formal training sessions including a final assessment on gas leak detection; analysis; and repair for UTG specialists.All deliverables are to be provided in both English and Russian.