Construction of the 4th oil refinery in Kazakhstan could be replaced by expansion of one of the active plants, which could be Shimkent oil refinery, said Aset Magauov, General Director of Kazenergy Association.
“I think that the period of fuel shortage will last in Kazakhstan till the end of upgrade of the oil refineries, but there is a tendency in the world that small plants are not competitive, which means that oil refineries with the capacity up to 5 million tons should be closed. Therefore, it is economically unprofitable for us to build the fourth oil refinery, when we are short of one or two million tons of oil products. We are going to expand its capacity up to 18 million tons and we can manufacture light oil products and in the mid-term we will be able to satisfy the requirements at the expense of three oil refineries,” Magauov said.
“According to the forecasts, by 202-24-2025 oil products consumption will continue growing and we have a potential for expansion of one of three oil refineries,” Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency quoted him.
