"On May 20, 2024, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, JSC NC KazMunayGas and LLP JV CASPI BITUM held a working meeting on the status and planned work on the project "Increasing the production capacity of LLP JV CASPI BITUM to 1.5 million tons (oil. – "Italics") per year".... The successful implementation of the project will increase bitumen production from 500 to 750 thousand tons/year by increasing the processing of high-viscosity oil from the Karazhanbas field from 1 to 1.5 million tons per year… The planned launch date of the plant is April 2025," the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.
The CASPI BITUMEN joint venture is the largest producer of road bitumen in Central Asia – the plant was built in 2010-2013, put into operation on December 12, 2013.
During the visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to China on October 17, 2023, an agreement was signed between KazMunaiGas and CITIC Group, providing for the implementation of a project to increase the plant's capacity in 2024-2025. Suitable heavy oil from Karazhanbasmunai (KMG and CITIC JV) is used for bitumen production at the plant. Earlier, KMG did not inform the exact timing of the launch of the project.
"To date, the project is entering an active phase, in particular, project documentation is being developed until September 2024, and an agreement has been signed for the manufacture and supply of equipment and materials, construction and installation works in the period November 2024 - March 2025," the message says.
During the development of the project documentation, various equipment and pipelines will be finalized, as well as additional jobs for the period of construction and operation. The project is included in the action plan of the Government of Kazakhstan for economic growth in 2024 and will fully provide the domestic market with domestic bitumen. CASPI BITUMEN reported a 4.3–fold collapse in bitumen production in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2023 - up to 29.5 thousand tons. At the same time, the company previously planned to produce 100 thousand tons of bitumen in January-March of this year. In the reporting for 2024, KMG did not specify numerical indicators for bitumen production, noting only that the output of goods has decreased. Winter bitumen harvesting, provided for in the roadmap for providing road bitumen for road projects for 2024, which was approved by the Ministries of Energy and Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan, was not fully implemented. The reasons for this were the lack of applications from road construction organizations, a weak sample of finished products from the factory and late payment to freight carriers.
Source: kz.kursiv.media