Kazakhstan, Astana / Trend corr K. Arynova / The necessity of constructing a new oil-refining plant will occur in Kazakhstan in 2015, the Executive Director of the KazMunayGaz JSC, Saduakas Miraliyev, reported.
"Today in Kazakhstan we observe a rise in oil product consumption by some 5-7% a year. If the rise continues, it will prove necessary to construct another oil-refinery by 2015," Miraliyev said.
There are three oil-refineries in Kazakhstan: the Atyrau, the Shymkent, and Pavlodar plants. In recent years they have been working at 60% of their planned production capacity.
"Loading of the three Kazakhstan oil-refineries is annually rising and in some six or seven years they will be overloaded. The situation can be remedied only by modernization of the plants. But if the economy of Kazakhstan is henceforward developing, energy consumption will also grow. So we will have to consider construction of another oil-refinery by 2015," Miraliyev said.
As for the place of constructing a new oil-refining plant, Miraliyev said, "The three plants are well-enough located. One is in the north ( Pavlodar plant), in the south (Shymkent plant), and in the west (Atyrau plant). Most probably, a new plant will be constructed in the east of the country."
The capacity of the plant will depend on demands in the country for that time.