Kazakhstan to Increase Oil Processing to Over 28 Million Tons Annually

The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan has revealed its plans to significantly increase oil production capacity.

“The main task of our country's oil refining industry is to ensure economic growth and supply the domestic market with high quality fuels and lubricants. The total oil processing capacity of the Atyrau, Pavlodar, and Shymkent refineries, as well as the Aktau bitumen plant is up to 18 million tons per year,” the Kazakh Ministry of Energy said, The Caspian Post reports citing Kazinform.

The draft concept for development of Kazakhstan's oil refining industry for 2024-2040 aims at increasing oil refining capacity.

• The Shymkent Refinery (from 6 million tons to 12 million tons per year);
• The Pavlodar Refinery (from 5.5 million tons to 8 million tons per year);
• The Atyrau Oil Refinery (from 5.5 million tons to 6.7 million tons per year);
• Aktau bitumen plant (from 1 million tons to 1.5 million tons per year and, accordingly, bitumen production from 500,000 tons to 750,000 tons per year).

“We need to take a decision on construction of a new refinery with a processing capacity of at least 10 million tons of oil by the year 2030,” the ministry added.

As reported earlier, over 1,700 km of gas pipelines were built last year to provide more than 300,000 Kazakhstanis with access to piped gas.