ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 19. KazMunayGas (KMG, the national oil and gas company), China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC), and SIBUR (one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Russia) have signed a protocol that officially completed the entry of SINOPEC into the participants in the project for the construction of the first integrated gas chemical complex for the production of polyethylene in Kazakhstan, Trend reports.
The structure of the owners of the future plant is as follows: KazMunayGas - 40 percent, SINOPEC - 30 percent, and Sibur - 30 percent.
The cost of the joint project of three large companies will be about $7.7 billion, and the plant’s capacity will be 1.25 million tons per year, which is 1 percent of all global capacity.
To supply the "Polyethylene" project with raw materials (ethane), a gas separation complex will be built at the Tengiz field. The gas separation complex's capacity is 9.1 billion cubic meters of dry gas processing per year, of which it is expected to produce 1.6 million tons of ethane. Ethane will be sent through the main pipeline from Tengiz to the Karabatan site, where the polyethylene production plant will operate.
The enterprise plans to produce about 22 grades of polyethylene using American-licensed technologies from Chevron Phillips and Univation, of which 40 percent will be premium class.
Construction of the plant is planned to be completed by 2029. More than 8,000 jobs will be created during the construction period, and about 850 jobs will be created during the operation period.
Meanwhile, polyethylene is the basis for the production of a number of household and industrial products and goods, such as polyethylene pipes, construction and packaging materials, auto components, and others.