On the eve of Independence Day, KazTransOil and the Kazakhstan-China Pipeline put two oil pumping stations into operation in the Karaganda and Almaty regions. The new oil pumping stations No. 8 and No. 10, located on the Atasu-Alashankou oil export pipeline, are designed to help reach its design capacity of exporting to China 20 million tons per year.
The owners of the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline are the Kazakhstan-China Pipeline, KazTransOil and the Chinese company CNDOC. Since the launch of the Atasu-Alashankou in 2006 to the present day, 52.1 million tons of oil has been transported to China. The capacity of the pipeline increased from 2.2 million tons in 2006 to 10.4 million tons in 2012.
Atasu-Alashankou is part of the Kazakhstan-China trunk-pipeline system, which is being constructed in two phases. In the first phase, the Kenkyak-Atyrau and Atasu-Alashankou pipelines were constructed in 2003 and 2006 respectively. The second phase included doubling of the existing capacity of the system in accordance with a May 17, 2004 agreement signed between the governments of Kazakhstan and China for the development of comprehensive oil and gas cooperation.
Chief Engineer and First Deputy Director of the Eastern office of KazTransOil Meirambai Kozhanov said the commissioning of the new stations will increase the capacity of Atasu-Alashankou from its current 12 million tons per year to 20 million tons in 2014.
Also, 124 new jobs have been created at the new stations. Most employees are local residents. Many professionals, especially engineers with the necessary skills and education, have come from other regions. Kozhanov also noted that all employees passed special training prior to the launch of the new stations.
The construction of the stations was funded by the Kazakhstan-China Pipeline. The actual costs of the work, excluding VAT, reached 9.3 billion tenge (US$60.5 million) at Station No. 8, and 11.6 billion tenge (US$75 million) at Station No. 10. The facilities are equipped with modern automated remote monitoring and control systems (SCADA), commercial electricity metres and fire and gas alarms.
Several subcontractors, including some Kazakh companies, helped build the oil pumping stations.
Generally, KazTransOil implements large-scale projects every year. There is a steady annual increase of oil turnover and net profit. The company has obtained a national operator status for Kazakhstan’s main oil pipelines, it successfully participated in the People’s IPO programme and has contracts with new partners for oil transportation and many other projects.
