The government of Kazakhstan has begun a major expansion of its oil refining industry. The country will increase the capacity of its three largest refineries and is exploring the construction of a new refinery with an annual capacity of 10 million tonnes. The development of the industry comes amid repeated incidents at the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).
WHAT PROJECTS ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED
According to the Government, in 2025 oil production increased by 13.5% and reached 99.6 million tonnes. Production of 98 million tonnes is planned for 2026. In the first half of 2026, the country produced 45.7 million tonnes of oil and processed 8.985 million tonnes.
This year, the expansion of the three largest refining enterprises has begun. The capacity of the Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant will be increased from 5.5 million to 9 million tonnes per year, PetroKazakhstan Oil Products (PKOP) in Shymkent — from 6 million to 12 million tonnes, and the Atyrau Refinery — from 5.5 million to 6.7 million tonnes.
Additionally, the government is exploring the construction of a new refinery with an annual capacity of 10 million tonnes.
WHAT ELSE WAS ANNOUNCED BY THE GOVERNMENT
It was reported that four existing bitumen plants are already capable of producing 1.66 million tonnes of product per year. The cabinet believes this is sufficient to fully meet domestic demand for bitumen for road construction.
It was also reported that at the end of 2025, natural gas production increased by 15%, to 68.2 billion cubic metres. In the first half of 2026, production totalled 31.9 billion cubic metres.
WHAT IS THE CONTEXT FOR THE INDUSTRY'S DEVELOPMENT
The expansion of refining capacity takes place against a backdrop of repeated incidents at the infrastructure of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), through which oil exports are carried out.
According to the CPC, on 20 July 2026, an unmanned aerial vehicle attacked the civilian tanker "NELSA", which was being loaded at Buoy Mooring Point 1. A fire broke out as a result, which was extinguished by the crew and CPC emergency teams. The crew was evacuated, no oil spill occurred, but loading was temporarily suspended.
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Energy condemned the attacks on the facilities that took place on 19 July 2026.
In its statement, the CPC described the incident as a "terrorist attack" and expressed its expectation that the consortium's member countries would provide an appropriate assessment of what had happened.
