Kazakhstan and China plan to expand cooperation in oil industry

During a meeting between Hou Qijun, president of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Askhat Khassenov, chair of Kazakhstan’s national oil company KazMunayGas (KMG) in Beijing, the two sides reviewed a summary of the draft feasibility study for nitrogen-based fertilizer production. The project is expected to be completed by 2029 at an estimated cost of approximately $1.5 billion, with a planned annual capacity of 1 million tons.

Furthermore, KMG reported exploring new potential oil fields on the eastern side of the Pre-Caspian Depression in collaboration with China Southern Petroleum Exploration and Development Corporation (CNODC), a subsidiary of CNPC.

During the negotiations in Beijing, the counterparts have also reviewed technologies to enhance oil output from low-margin and hard-to-recover deposits. They have already identified sites for testing these methods.

Additionally, the parties discussed the Shymkent Oil Refinery capacity expansion project, which aims to double output from 6 million to 12 million tons per year by 2030. However, achieving this expansion will require increasing the capacity of the Kenkiyak-Atyrau and Kenkiyak-Kumkol pipelines. The cost of these upgrades is estimated at $485 million.

Established in 1988, CNPC is a leading Chinese oil and gas enterprise and the parent company for PetroChina, one of the world’s largest public oil and gas companies.