ASTANA, Kazakhstan, June 7. Kazakhstan's Samruk-Kazyna (Sovereign Wealth Fund) and Russian Sibur have discussed joint projects, including a polypropylene production plant with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year in Atyrau, Trend reports.
Discussions took place between the Chairman of Samruk-Kazyna Nurlan Zhakupov and Chairman of the Board, General Director of SIBUR Mikhail Karisalov.
The parties also considered the next stages of the polyethylene production project. To note, the development of project documentation is now being completed, and the search for sources of financing is underway.
Nurlan Zhakupov noted during the meeting that he sees Sibur as a long-term strategic partner with the necessary experience, stability and ability to organize sales of future products.
Meanwhile, in April 2024, a tripartite protocol was signed, officially completing Sinopec's entry into the project for the construction of a polyethylene production plant with a capacity of 1.25 million tons in the Atyrau region of Kazakhstan. The structure of project participants is as follows: KazMunayGas – 40 percent; Sinopec – 30 percent; 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.