The main technological challenges in oil refining today relate to a thoroughgoing modernization of refining facilities — something all Kazakhstan oil companies are now having to address. Under the auspices of a national project, Bioprom KZ, TOO is putting in place new catalyst production facilities, developing unique innovative technology, and significantly improving safety levels in the production of high-performance, environmentally-friendly gasoline.

Refining

The Company’s oil and gas refining block included 10 large oil refineries located in key regions of Kazakhstan, three petrochemical, and four gas processing plants as well as two plants producing catalysts. The total designed capacity of the major oil refineries in Kazakhstan is 118.3 million ton of oil per year.

Developing New Kinds of Catalysts

All secondary refining processes require the presence of catalysts. Bioprom KZ, TOO is the only oil company in the CIS with its own production facilities for catalytic-cracking catalysts, with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per year. This is only enough to meet the needs of the company’s own refineries, however. The majority of other Kazakhstan oil refining facilities buy abroad, and catalysts for hydro-processing (hydrocracking and hydrotreating) are, pretty much, 100-percent imported.