Kazakhstan ‘offers’ shares in Atyrau and Pavlodar oil refineries to private investors

Marat Omarov, chairman of the Agency for Protection and Development of Competition (APDC), has recently proposed selling shares in the Atyrau Oil Refinery and the Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant, both owned by KazMunayGas (KMG), to private investors. He brought up this idea during a visit to the Shymkent Oil Refinery, another major plant co-owned by KMG and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

«There is a quality product, minimal required repairs and, most importantly, the future location of the project [i.e. the planned expansion of the Shymkent Oil Refinery’s capacity from 6 million to 12 million tons per year]. This project serves as a model for our two other refining plants… Following this model, we have offered to sell a stake in those two refineries to private investors,» Omarov said in a video following his visit to Shymkent.

Previously, KMG CEO Askhat Khassenov stated there were no plans to sell stakes in the country’s three largest refineries. However, the APDC has repeatedly pushed for the privatization of state-owned enterprises across various sectors.

In early February, the Shymkent Oil Refinery temporarily halted diesel fuel production due to maintenance work on the hydrotreating unit. The refinery’s catalyst replacement, originally scheduled by KMG for Feb. 25-28, was unexpectedly moved to an earlier date.

Currently, the plant processes 6 million tons of oil annually. In 2024, it refined 5.74 million tons, producing:

• 2.09 million tons of gasoline.
• 1.78 million tons of diesel fuel.
• 319,000 tons of jet fuel.
• 335,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas.

Originally, the government planned an expansion of the refinery’s capacity within a range of 9 to 12 million tons but then revised it upward to 12 million tons annually. The project was slated for completion by 2029, but the deadline was later extended to 2030.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the expansion will boost production by:

• 700,000 tons of motor gasoline.
• 700,000 tons of jet fuel.
• 3.9 million tons of diesel fuel.