Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.30 / Trend /
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is supporting the production of chemicals used by the oil industry in Kazakhstan, with a US$ 8 million loan to RauanNalco, a venture between RauanMunaiChim of Kazakhstan and Nalco Company, USA, EBRD website reports.
The EBRD's 7-year loan with a two-year grace period will be used to support the company's expansion. The loan will finance the construction of a new blending plant in Atyrau, Western Kazakhstan, with capacities to produce 9,400 tonnes of specialty chemicals per year.
"The rapidly growing oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan will require increasing quantities of oil field chemicals as production from Kashagan and other fields in the Caspian region ramps up. About 90 types of special chemicals are used throughout the oil and gas extraction and processing cycles," the report says.
"The new plant will adopt more efficient and environment-friendly manufacturing processes, which in turn are bound to have a further impact on the whole sector in Kazakhstan," Frederic Lucenet, EBRD Director for Manufacturing and Services, said.
"This investment will mark a step change in our manufacturing footprint in Kazakhstan and the Caspian Region. With continued development of the country's major Tengiz, Karachaganak, and Kashagan oil fields, it is expected Kazakhstan will see a two-fold increase in its current production by 2020," Yerken Beglerov, Chief Financial Officer of RauanNalco, said.
The majority of the RauanNalco-produced chemicals are needed in the extraction, refining, storage and transportation of oil. At the extraction stage as well as in the maintenance of the oil wells, the chemicals are used to remove water and salt, minimize corrosion, inhibit scale formation and improve process efficiency.
Since the beginning of its operations in Kazakhstan, the EBRD has invested over €2.8 billion in over 130 projects in various sectors of the Kazakh economy, mobilising additional investments in excess of about €7 billion, with 65 per cent of the projects' being investments into the development of the country's private sector.