Capacity of Shymkent oil refinery to be doubled

Kazakhstan’s prime minister announced in a press release that his cabinet has resolved the issue of the Shymkent oil refinery modernization. They plan to raise the refinery’s capacity to 12 million tons of products per year.

«We don’t need half measures. We are going to put a lot of money into the refinery upgrade. That’s why we want to double its capacity. Demand for fuel and lubricants has been growing from year to year. The economy is growing, the population is growing and business activity is growing as well. We have to support these processes by providing the economy with everything it needs, including fuel and lubricants,» said Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov during his trip to Shymkent.

Smailov also noted that it is necessary to synchronize the refinery’s upgrade with the establishment of new facilities for the advanced processing of petroleum nearby.

Due to the current shortage of diesel fuel and the expected deficit of gasoline in Kazakhstan, the country’s authorities had wanted to build a fourth oil refinery in addition to the current facilities in Atyrau, Pavlodar and Shymkent. However, the Ministry of Energy believes that in order to solve the problem of fuel shortages, upgrading the Shymkent oil refinery is enough. The agency is already developing its feasibility study and the upgrade is expected to be completed by 2029.