ASTANA. Kazakhstan, July 2. KazMunayGas (KMG, Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company), Chinese CITIC Group, and CITIC Resources Holdings Limited have discussed the current status of the project to expand the production capacity of the Aktau bitumen plant (CASPI BITUM LLP) to 1.5 million tons per year, TurkicWorld reports.
Negotiations on this topic took place between the Chairman of the Board of KMG, Askhat Khassenov, and Xi Guohua, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CITIC Group, and Hao Weibao, Chief Executive Officer of CITIC Resources Holdings Limited.
Last year, the NJPEC Institute (China) developed a preliminary feasibility study for the project and also conducted a technical audit of the plant. In May of this year, a PC contract for construction was signed, and work on the detailed design is currently underway.
Taking into account the strategic importance of the development of bitumen production for Kazakhstan, Khasenov noted the importance of launching the plant before the start of the 2025 road construction season.
Also, during meetings with the leaders of the CITIC Group, issues of the production activities of the joint venture Karazhanbasmunai JSC were discussed.
The head of KMG confirmed the unchanged course of the national company to strengthen interaction with partners from the CITIC Group and expressed confidence in the successful implementation of joint plans.
Meanwhile, the volumes of raw material processing at CASPI BITUM at the end of 2023 amounted to 853,484 tons, or 100.5 percent of the plan. Over the past year, 358,155 tons of road bitumen were produced (100.8 percent of the plan).
The leaders in consumption of road bitumen produced at the plant in 2023 are Almaty region with 60,913 tons (17 percent), Mangystau region with 44,025 tons (12 percent), and Zhambyl region with 39,404 tons (11 percent) of the total shipment volume.
