OREANDA-NEWS. August 10, 2010. The master loan agreement as part of the implementation of the strategic investment project “Construction of the Aromatics Production Complex (APC) in the Atyrau Refinery” was signed between JSC “Development Bank of Kazakhstan” (DBK) and LLP “Atyrau Refinery” (a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSC “KazMunayGas – Refining and Marketing”) on 30 July this year. In accordance with the agreement signed, DBK will extend a credit facility in the total amount of 1,063,660,000 US dollars to LLP "AR" for a term of 13 years.

JSC NC “KazMunayGas” is implementing this project in accordance with Decree No. 712 of 14 May 2009 of the RoK Government “On Approval of the Comprehensive Plan to Develop the Refineries of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2009-2015”. The plan is aimed to ensure energy security of the Republic of Kazakhstan in terms of total saturation of the domestic market with the main types of oil products - high-octane gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. The project is included in the list of strategic investment projects of the Republic of Kazakhstan, subject to Decree No. 1293 of 1 September 2009 of the RoK Government.

Construction of the APC will render it possible to output feedstocks for the petrochemical industry: benzene – up to 133 thousand tpa and paraxylene – up to 496 thousand tpa, and to produce high-octane gasoline meeting the Euro-3,4 standards, generate additional volumes of hydrogen for the technological processes.

As is known, the agreement on turnkey construction of the aromatics production complex for was signed between LLP “AR” and Sinopec Engineering (China) on 29 October 2009 as part of the project. Meanwhile, the contract value is 85% financed using the funds of DBK’s related loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

Implementation of the project will enable the Atyrau Refinery to enter the country’s common petrochemical chain, introduce innovation technology meeting the high level of the European environmental standards, and not only to remain competitive on the modern fuel market, but considerably improve the environmental and public health situation in the region as well.