ASTANA – A new 10-million-tonnes-per-year oil refinery, fourth in the country, is considered to be constructed within the next five years in the Mangistau region, Deputy Akim (governor) of the region Rakimbek Amirzhanov has announced.
Photo credit: Lada
“Together with the Iranian side, the Akimat (regional administration) is considering the issue of the construction of the fourth oil refinery in Kazakhstan. Oil products from Mangistau will be sent to the northern ports of Iran, and in the south, Iran will send crude oil to the oil companies onwards,” the Central Communications Service reported, citing the deputy akim.
According to Amizhanov, a series of negotiations have already been held involving the Ministry of Oil of Iran and Kazakhstan’s largest investors. It is estimated the refinery would create 10,000 jobs.
Currently, the country has three fuel refineries: in the Atyrau, Pavlodar and South Kazakhstan regions. The Atyrau plant has been operating since 1945. The plant’s processed oil products totalled 4,920,005 tonnes in 2014. Pavlodar’s output in 2014 totalled 4,925,774 and Shymkent’s was 5,085,239 in the same year.
The Aktau sea port and the railway lines Beineu-Zhezkazgan and Uzen-Bereket-Gorgan, connecting western parts of Kazakhstan with its central regions and Kazakhstan with Iran via Turkmenistan respectively, will facilitate the domestic distribution and export of oil products. The proposed plant will produce gasoline, diesel fuel, oil and aviation fuel. The minimum cost of the project is estimated at $6 billion.
“President Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke about the need to begin construction of the refinery. I believe the Mangistau region meets all the requirements [for that purpose]. There are large reserves of oil. Last year, the volume of oil production [regionally] totalled 18 million tonnes. There are many consumer markets. In addition, we have all the opportunities for transport logistics,” oil industry worker Zholdas Tokzhanov, told Kazakh TV.
In December 2014, President Nazarbayev said that due to the growing domestic consumption of gasoline, diesel and gas, the relevance of building a new refinery had increased.
