Kazakhstan is working on several new petrochemical refining projects carrying a combined price tag of U.S. $12 billion, and some of them – including a plant producing API Group II and Group III base oils – are expected to be completed soon, a government official told an industry event.
“Plants for production of aromatic hydrocarbons, lubricants, polypropylene and fuel additives successfully operate in Kazakhstan,” Nurlan Nogaev, Kazakh energy minister, told the Tatarstan Oil and Gas Forum held earlier this month in Kazan, Russia.
In his speech, as reported in the portal of the Russian Petrochemical Community, Nogaev said that along with the ongoing construction work on projects for production of polyethylene terephthalate, methanol, olefins, polyethylene and butadiene, operators are assembling the first base oil plant in the country that will produce Group II and Group III base oils.
“The price tag of the plant is $860 million and it will be capable of producing 280,000 tons of Group II and Group III base oil per annum,” the minister said.
Nogaev didn’t gave precise information about what company is behind the base oil plant construction and where it will be located. Earlier reports by industry experts pointed to Hill Corp., a refiner and lubricant marketer that has close ties with the state-owned oil major KazMunayGas.
The Shymkent-based company operates a 70,000 t/y of lubricant blending plant and a rerefinery with capacity to process 30,000 t/y of waste oils.
Kazakhstan consumes roughly 140,000 tons of finished lubricants annually, a great portion of which is imported, predominately from Russia, the company said.