ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 16. Kazakhstan's KazMunayGas (KMG, the national oil and gas company) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have discussed issues of cooperation in the development of new geological exploration projects, Trend reports.
According to the KMG, discussions took place between the chairman of the board of the Kazakh national company, Magzum Mirzagaliev, and the president of CNPC Central Asia and Russia, Bian Dezhi.
The parties noted that, as part of cooperation on promising geological exploration projects, KMG and CNPC specialists selected several projects for consideration. Currently, CNPC is analyzing other geological projects that KMG is implementing on its own.
"The discussion of priority partnership areas demonstrates our commitment to the effective development of the oil and gas industry. We are focused on developing projects that improve oil recovery and expand refining capacity to meet rising energy demand and assure the industry's sustainable development," Mirzagaliev said.
In addition, the parties discussed the feasibility study of the project to expand the refining capacity of the Shymkent Oil Refinery to 12 million tons per year.
KazMunayGas and CNPC signed an agreement in May 2023 to develop their strategic partnership in the oil and gas business. The agreement aims to strengthen collaboration in geological exploration and oil refining, examine ways to enhance the amount of transportation through the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline, and develop enterprises' personnel potential.
Meanwhile, a roadmap has been signed in Kazakhstan to address critical issues for the project to increase production capacity at the Shymkent Oil Refinery.
Thus, according to the Roadmap, the Shymkent oil refinery's production capacity will be doubled to 12 million metric tons.
The Shymkent Oil Refinery, which was opened in 1985 in the city of Shymkent, is Kazakhstan's newest. The plant accounts for 30 percent of the entire current volume of petroleum products generated by Kazakhstan's three refineries.
Shymkent Oil Refinery finished a large-scale renovation and redevelopment project in 2018.