/KASE, October 30, 09/ - National company KazMunayGas (Astana), bonds of which are listed on Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), issued a statement:

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The contract between LLP "Atyrau Oil Refinery" (subsidiary of JSC "Trading House "KazMunayGas") and Chinese company Sinopec Engineering for the construction of an aromatics production complex at the Atyrau Oil Refinery on turn-key terms was signed on the 29th of October this year in Atyrau.

According to the competitive selection of technical and economic proposals of the strategic partners, the preference for the complex construction was given to the Sinopec Engineering company as the General Partner.

JSC NC "KazMunayGas" implements this project in accordance with the RK Government Regulation No. 712 of 14 May 2009 "On Approval of the Comprehensive Plan to Develop Refineries of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2009-2015". The plan aims at ensuring energy security of the Republic of Kazakhstan with regard to total saturation of the domestic market with the main types of petroleum products - high-grade petrol, jet fuel and diesel fuel.

The construction of the aromatic hydrocarbons production complex will allow production of benzene up to 133 thousand tons per year and paraxylene up to 496 thousand tons per year for the petrochemical industry, as well as production of petrol and diesel fuel of the Euro-4 standard.

"Flexible process flow of the planned complex provides an opportunity to vary the final product output (fuel variant or petrochemical variant) depending on the domestic market requirements for auto-petrol and petrochemical feedstocks", - said Daniyar Tiyesov, Managing Director for Processing and Marketing of Oil (member of the Management Board) of JSC NC "KazMunayGas". - "Thus, in case of the fuel variant, the designed capacity of the complex at full loading of crude oil distillation plants will allow increasing the production of high-octane petrol by an average of 550 thousand tons per year."

The construction of the complex will be carried out according to the "ParamaX BTX" technology from the single licensee Axens (France) and includes a catalytic reforming unit (phase 1) and construction of the aromatics production complex (phase 2).

Investments in the project will amount to 1,040 million U.S. dollars. The construction of the aromatics production complex is planned for 2009-2013.

Reference:

• The implementation of the aromatics production complex project is a follow- up of the launched upgrade of the refinery. The 1st phase of reconstruction implemented in 2006 has allowed replacing obsolescent and physically deteriorated equipment, carrying out radical modernization of production facilities with their brining to the up-to-date level, and reducing harmful environmental impact, and producing oil products with low sulfur content. Furthermore, the quality of motor fuels has been improved by expanding the range of oil products:
• Regular-92, Premium- 95, Super-98 motor petrols that meet the requirements of EURO-2 and have a quality in terms of the main indicators for the production of EURO level - sulfur and benzene content (the rate of not more than 500 ppm and 5% respectively, factual indicators are 7 ppm and 2,7%);
• diesel fuel meeting the EURO-2,3,4 requirements (winter and summer clean fuel), diesel fuel with a low pour point - minus 35 without use of additives. It is these types of diesel fuel that are intended for application in modern cars and trucks with diesel engines;
• jet fuel TC-1 composite with hydrotreated kerosene (technical capability has increased up to 200 thousand tons/year).

JSC "National Company "KazMunayGas" is the Kazakh national operator for exploration, production, refining and transportation of hydrocarbons, representing the interests of the state in Kazakhstan's petroleum sector. 100 percent of the shares of JSC NC "KazMunayGas" belong to JSC "Sovereign Welfare Fund "Samruk-Kazyna".

JSC "Trade House "KazMunayGas" is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSC NC "KazMunayGas". The company's assets include Atyrau Oil Refinery (99.21%), Shymkent Oil Refinery (50%), the "Rompetrol" company (100%). The main directions of activity: management of refining assets, oil and oil products exports, development of retail network for oil products sales.

Sinopec Engineering is the PRC's largest company. According to Fortune Global 500 rating, Sinopec in 2008 is the third largest refiner in the world, the fourth largest producer of petrochemicals in the world, it ranks 16th in the list of 500 largest global companies. In July 2009 it ranked No. 7 in the Fortune Global 500 rating.

National company KazMunayGas 19 Kabanbay batyr ave., 010000, Astana, Kazakhstan tel. +7 (7172) 976340, факс: +7 (7172) 976329 www.kmg.kz

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[2009-10-30]