Selling a stake in the Atyrau oil refinery is not currently being considered, said the Kazakh Energy Ministry
Selling the stake in the Atyrau oil refinery is not currently being considered, and interaction with Tatneft representatives is being conducted as part of an exchange of production experience, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said.
Last week, state-owned KazMunayGas (KMG) said it was studying the issue of privatizing shares in the Pavlodar and Atyrau oil refineries. "Preparing for such decisions requires a significant amount of time," it said.
At the same time, KMG is open to cooperation with partners to jointly build the entire production chain with various companies from both distant and neighboring countries, including PJSC Tatneft, it said. The Russian company "expressed interest in investing in new petrochemical projects directly related to the activities of AOR LLP, in particular in producing terephthalic acid and polyethylene terephthalate (TPA and PET)," KMG said.
Tatneft has interacted with the Atyrau refinery only as part of exchanging experience, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said. "Exchanging experience between companies in the oil refining industry and beyond is a standard and widespread practice for improving refinery performance," the ministry said.
"The issue of selling a stake in AOR is therefore not being considered at the moment," the ministry said.
It was previously reported that the possibility of privatizing 50% of the shares in AOR and POR is being discussed at the proposal of the Kazakh Agency for Protection and Development of Competition.
There are three major oil refineries in Kazakhstan - the Atyrau, Shymkent and Pavlodar petrochemical plants.
The Atyrau refinery is located in the west of the country. The design refining capacity is 5.5 million tonnes per year, and the refining depth is up to 86.4%. The main owner of the company is JSC NC KazMunayGas (99%).
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