Zhanaozen, Kashagan gas processing plants being built too slowly, must be completed on time - Kazakh president
ALMATY. Jan 28 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has asked the government to make sure that gas processing plants in Zhanaozen in the Mangistau region and at the Kashagan field are built on time.
"The gas processing plants in Zhanaozen and at Kashagan, and a combined-cycle power plant in the Turkestan region are being built too slowly. These projects must be completed according to the approved schedules," he said.
Tokayev said the development of the gas sector was turning into one of the main drivers for the country's sustainable social and economic development. Last year, 107 settlements with about 300,000 residents in nine regions of Kazakhstan were connected to the gas distribution system.
A gas processing plant with capacity of 1 billion cubic meters is being built at Kashagan. It was supposed to be commissioned in 2025, but this was later put back until mid-2026. A gas processing plant with capacity of 2.5 bcm of gas per year is also expected to be launched at the field by 2030.
Kazakhstan's national company QazaqGaz and Qatar's UCC Holding signed an agreement in February 2024 on the joint implementation of projects to build gas processing plants at the Kashagan field.
The construction of the two gas processing plants Kashagan field will cost up to $3.5 billion, Sanzhar Zharkeshov, CEO of QazaqGaz, said in July last year. "For the first project, approximately $1 billion [will be needed], while surveying is ongoing for the second project, estimated at $2 billion-$2.5 billion," he said.
Reports have also said KazMunayGas (KMG), Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company, has dropped plans to modernize the Kazakh Gas Processing Plant (KazGPP) in Zhanaozen and decided to build a new GPP there. In 2021, the cost of building the gas processing plant was estimated at 147 billion tenge, and its throughput capacity at 900 million cubic meters of gas per year. Initially, the gas processing plant was supposed to be built in 2022-2023.
Construction of the gas processing plant in Zhanaozen started in November 2023, and its two process lines should be completed early 2027.
The administration of the Turkestan region said earlier that the construction of a combined cycle power plant in the Turkestan region was due to start in 2024 with commissioning slated for 2026. Turkestan Combined Cycle Plant LLP attracted 700 billion tenge of investment to finance the construction. The project is carried out by the administration of the Turkestan region together with Samruk Kazyna JSC. The general contractors are South Korea's Doosan Enterbility Co Ltd and Bazis Construction LLP.