ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 8. The Chairman of the Board of KazMunayGas, Askhat Khassenov, invited Chinese companies to participate in new geological exploration and petrochemical projects in Kazakhstan during the 8th meeting of the Kazakhstan-China Business Council, Trend reports via KazMunayGas.
During the meeting, issues related to the development of the energy sector and the promotion of sustainable "green" growth, as well as the expansion of logistics and production chains, were discussed.
At the panel session "Deepening Practical Cooperation in the Field of Energy and Promoting Green Development," Askhat Khassenov, Chairman of the Board of KazMunayGas (KMG), spoke.
In particular, it was noted that KazMunayGas is currently the company with the highest market capitalization in Kazakhstan at $22.7 billion. KMG is actively exploring opportunities in international financial markets and plans to approve a program for issuing Dim Sum bonds.
"Overall, KMG effectively cooperates with major Chinese companies in all areas. Just this year, in the field of geological exploration, KMG signed contracts with Sinopec for the Berezovsky field (West Kazakhstan), with CNOOC for the Zhylioi block (Atyrau region), and is also studying the Dostyk block (eastern edge of the Pre-Caspian basin) jointly with CNODC. Chinese partners show interest in other promising geological projects in our country, such as Bereke (Atyrau region) and Shu-Sarysu (Ulytau)," noted Khassenov.
At the same time, there is still great potential for new investment, as production is currently only taking place in 5 of the 15 sedimentary basins. The head of KMG invited Chinese companies to explore new blocks in Kazakhstan.
Regarding oil production, Chinese companies currently account for 5.5 million tons of oil production per year in joint projects with KMG.
"In order to increase production at operational assets, we plan to implement new technologies," emphasized Khassenov.
The KMG leader also spoke about cooperation with Chinese partners in oil refining and petrochemicals, with joint projects such as "Polyethylene" (1.25 million tons per year) and "Urea" (880 thousand tons per year) being implemented. One of the important and large joint projects with CNPC is the expansion of the Shymkent refinery’s capacity from the current 6 million tons per year to 12 million tons of oil by 2030. Additionally, KazMunayGas is considering opportunities for cooperation with partners from China in the IT sector.