Atyrau, November 6. Kurultai deputies who are members of the working group on the draft law “On the petrochemical industry” toured petrochemical enterprises in Atyrau Region over two days and discussed the main provisions of the draft, the Ministry of Energy said.
The trip was organised by the KAZENERGY association with the participation of the Ministry of Energy, KazMunayGas, industry associations and enterprises. On the first day the deputies visited the construction sites of the liquefied petroleum gas intake, transshipment and fractionation terminal of Eskene LPG LLP and the gas processing plant of GPC Investment LLP. They then toured the NINT special economic zone: the construction sites of the butadiene plant of Butadien LLP and the polyethylene plant of Silleno LLP, a facility of Karabatan Utility Solution LLP and the geosynthetics plant of Intago Kazakhstan LLP. They also separately saw the polypropylene plant of Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries Inc. LLP, KPI, and its production processes.
On the second day the deputies visited the Atyrau Refinery, which makes feedstock for the petrochemical industry, and the Atyrau Railcar Plant of the TEXOL group of companies. The programme ended with a working meeting with government bodies and enterprise representatives. At the centre of the discussion were supplying the industry with feedstock, measures to support deep processing, and investment and technological barriers. Participants’ proposals will be systematised and used in preparing the draft law.
What it means: The draft law on the petrochemical industry is being discussed at enterprise sites. The main questions are feedstock, support for deep processing and barriers for investors. The announcement contains neither the text of the draft nor deadlines for adopting it.
Who benefits: According to the Ministry of Energy, lawmakers and the industry: the deputies saw the production on site, and the enterprises could name the barriers. What amendments the companies will propose is not disclosed.
Background: Petrochemistry makes from oil and gas not fuel but raw materials and materials: plastics, rubbers, synthetic fibres. Liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, is a mixture of propane and butane; fractionation separates it into components. Butadiene is feedstock for synthetic rubber; polyethylene and polypropylene are mass-market plastics. NINT is the National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark, a special economic zone near Atyrau. Deep processing is obtaining products with high added value from raw materials instead of selling the raw materials themselves.
