Wednesday, June 06, 2012 -
KazMunaiGas’ (KMG) Atyrau refinery will be upgraded with the help of a $1.13 billion dollar loan from China’s Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank), KMG said on Wednesday.
The loan agreement comes as Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is in Beijing to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit meeting.
The loan has a 13.5-year term, state-operated KMG said in a release.
“The new facility will increase production of high octane gasoline, jet, and diesel fuels that meet the requirements of Euro-5 emissions standards,” the chief of the Atyrau refinery said in the statement.
The overhaul project to upgrade the country’s oldest refinery is expected to cost $1.68 billion. The refinery expects to process 2.64 million tons of fuel oil per year.
China has provided much of the foreign investment in Kazakhstan over the last few years, the Reuters news agency noted.
“In the crisis years, our companies received access to Chinese investment in the region of $10 billion,” Nazarbayev said, according to presidential web site Akorda.kz.