KAZINFORM – A gas processing plant with a capacity of 1bn cubic meters of gas per year will be built at the Kashagan oilfield by 2024, Kazinform correspondent reports citing the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan. "Last year, the construction of a gas processing plant to produce 1bn cubic meters of gas began at Kashagan. It is expected to be launched in 2024," said Bolat Akchulakov, Kazakh Energy Minister, at a meeting on the 2025 income enhancement plan. The plant is to produce different types of thermoplastic and butadiene. "The focus will on the realization of large-scale projects for producing 1mln tons of polyethylene terephthalate a year, 1.25mln tons of polyethylene per year, and 186 thousand tons of butadiene per year," said the minister. According to him, the plant will employ 489 workers, with 3 times more workers by September. He went on to note that this year it is planned to launch a polypropylene plant with a capacity of 500 thousand tons a year. The Energy Ministry works on the creation of an oil and gas chemical cluster with the realization of seven projects in Atyrau and West Kazakhstan regions as part of the national project "The sustainable economic growth aimed at raising the wellbeing of Kazakhstanis". Akchulakov added that the projects for the construction of combined-cycle installations in maneuverable mode with a total capacity of around 1,000MW are to be completed by 2025 in the southern parts of the country.
