Kazakhstan To Invest US$ 15 Billion In Petrochemical Industry
Kazakhstan plans to invest US$ 15 billion across six major oil and gas chemical projects to transition from raw material exports to high-value industrial production, according to Temirlan Urkumbaev of the Ministry of Energy.
The flagship polypropylene plant by Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries (KPI), launched in 2022 in Atyrau, has a capacity of 550,000 tonnes annually and produced 250,000 tonnes in 2024. The project cost US$ 2.6 billion.
Construction of a US$ 7.4 billion polyethylene plant began in late 2024 within the National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark SEZ. With 49% of preparatory work completed, it is slated to produce 1.25 million tonnes annually by 2029, including premium-grade variants. International firms like SIBUR, Sinopec, Tecnimont, Técnicas Reunidas, and Hyundai Engineering are involved.
Additional projects for butadiene, urea and other industrial chemicals are also in the pipeline, all within the 3,600-hectare SEZ, which offers tax incentives and infrastructure support. The initiative is expected to create over 19,000 jobs.
Urkumbaev emphasized that Kazakhstan aims to evolve from a resource exporter to a hub for high-tech production, enhancing its global competitiveness and sustainability. The government has declared petrochemicals a strategic priority, aiming to redirect liquefied hydrocarbons toward deeper value-added processing.
