Preparation For Fourth Refinery Entrusted To Company Led By Former KTZ Manager

Preparations for the construction of Kazakhstan’s fourth oil refinery, with a planned capacity of 10 million tons, have been entrusted to SK Ondeu. However, some figures in the oil and gas sector have already questioned the choice of customer, Orda.kz reports.

Oil and gas expert Nurlan Zhumagulov criticized the decision. In his view, there are questions about whether SK Ondeu has the necessary expertise for a project of this scale.

He recalled that the company had previously been involved in several major industrial projects with uncertain outcomes. Among them were the KPI plant, Polimer Production, the butadiene project, the Taikonur sulfuric acid plant, and infrastructure for the NINT special economic zone.

And after all this, SK Ondeu is entrusted with the construction of the fourth refinery?Zhumagulov wrote.

Samruk-Kazyna Ondeu LLP has been headed by Daniyar Mauletov since 2023. Before that, he served as deputy head of the State Revenue Department for the Almaty region and worked in Samruk-Energy structures. His last position before joining SK Ondeu was at KTZE Commerce, a branch of KTZ Express, where he oversaw customs operations.

Zhumagulov believes the decision could be a way to delay the issue of the refinery’s construction itself.

November will show whether SK Ondeu’s feasibility study will be ready,the expert noted.

Kazakhstan’s fourth refinery has been discussed for several years. The new plant is expected to help reduce the domestic market’s dependence on maintenance shutdowns and the workload of existing refineries, but the exact construction timeline and project cost have not yet been announced.

Original author: Alexander Zhdanov

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