BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. Kazakhstan plans to launch production of polyethylene, butadiene and urea by 2029.
This was announced by the press service of the Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy, citing statement made by Director of the Petrochemical Department, Temirlan Urkumbayev at the 13th Downstream Central Asia and Caspian Business Summit in Astana.
According to the Ministry, in the course of the meeting, Urkumbayev noted that the petrochemical industry is one of the promising areas for developing Kazakhstan's manufacturing sector.
"He noted that to implement these objectives, the Ministry of Energy approved a Roadmap for the Development of the Petrochemical Industry for 2024-2030 in October 2024. The document includes six key areas and 34 measures. The roadmap provides for the implementation of five flagship projects with total investments of about $12 billion, the creation of up to 20,000 permanent and temporary jobs, expansion of domestic consumption of raw materials, and increased production and export potential," the ministry reported, citing Urkumbayev..
Particular attention is being paid to creating long-term and predictable conditions for investors. In this regard, the Ministry of Energy has drafted a law on the petrochemical industry, which is currently under consideration by Kazakhstan's Kurultai.
The draft law is aimed at establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for the sector and provides mechanisms to secure the raw material base, develop the domestic market, systematically plan supplies and monitor the industry, regulate raw material prices, and provide state support for investment projects.
Moreover, it was noted that one of the key state support instruments remains the National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark Special Economic Zone. It has 19 registered participants implementing major petrochemical projects, including polypropylene, polyethylene and butadiene production.
According to Urkumbayev, Kazakhstan already operates Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries LLP, with a design capacity of 500,000 tons of polypropylene per year. The company produced 375,000 tons of products in 2025. Construction is underway on a polyethylene plant with an annual capacity of 1.25 million tons. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2029.
At the same time, a gas separation complex is being built to provide the future polyethylene plant with the necessary raw materials. The complex is also scheduled to be commissioned in 2029.
In addition, projects are being implemented in Kazakhstan to produce up to 339,000 tons of butadiene and 880,000 tons of urea per year. Thus, Kazakhstan is forming a full production chain, from securing raw materials and developing basic petrochemical capacities to expanding processing industries.
