BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 23. Kazakhstan will make a decision on the capacity and location for the construction of a fourth oil refinery by the end of 2026, the government’s press service reported.
The corresponding instruction was issued by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov following a government meeting in Astana on September 23.
During the meeting, Vice Minister of Energy Kaiyrkhan Tutkyshbayev reported on the work underway to assess the construction of the fourth refinery. According to the Ministry of Energy, Kazakhstan’s long-term need for oil refining capacity could reach around 40 million tons per year.
“The Prime Minister instructed to complete a comprehensive assessment and make final decisions by the end of the current year regarding the construction of the fourth refinery, including determining its optimal capacity, configuration, feedstock base, location and economic model,” the government said.
Participants in the meeting were also given a number of instructions aimed at increasing the production capacity of the oil refining sector to meet domestic market needs in the medium and long term.
Relevant government bodies and organizations were instructed to closely monitor projects to expand oil refining capacity, prevent delays and ensure the timely commissioning of facilities. Particular attention was also given to further increasing the depth of oil refining in line with growing domestic demand for petroleum products.
“Expanding oil refining capacity is directly linked to the attractiveness of fuel prices in the domestic market. In the current situation, when gasoline and diesel prices in Kazakhstan are twice as low as in neighboring countries, investments in oil refining are economically unfeasible. Therefore, we need to actively continue market liberalization. This is a matter of economic security,” Bektenov said.
In May 2026, Kazakhstan announced the launch of work on a preliminary feasibility study for the fourth refinery project. The planned large-scale facility is expected to have an oil processing capacity of up to 10 million tons per year.
The government's meeting also noted that the implementation of expansion projects at Kazakhstan’s three existing oil refineries will increase their combined processing capacity from 17.5 million to 28.8 million tons per year.
The Shymkent Refinery’s capacity is planned to increase from 6 million to 12 million tons per year by 2030, while the Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant is expected to raise capacity from 6 million to 9 million tons by 2031. At the Atyrau Refinery, an efficiency improvement project is expected to increase capacity from 5.5 million to 6.1 million tons by 2027.
As a result, Kazakhstan plans to increase its total oil refining capacity to around 40 million tons per year in the long term.
