News 2013
#1 (79), February 2013Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft has acquired Bitumen Plant LLP, a new asset for production of bitumen products with an annual capacity of 280 000 tons, located in Southern Kazakhstan near Shymkent,” is marked in the company’s press release. According to the document, Bitumen Plant LLP is one of the leaders in production of bitumen in Kazakhstan.
The enterprise was put into operation in 2011 and represents a new technological facility intended for production of a wide range of bitumen products. The products at the new plant of Gazprom Neft will be produced from Russian crude: tar from the Omsk Oil Refinery.
The plant’s important competitive advantage is its close neighborhood to the transit corridor Western Russia - Western China. Location of the production facility will allow the plant to provide road building organisations of Kazakhstan with high-quality bitumen products on the operational characteristics of which considerably influence the distances and transportation conditions. Bitumen, which was exported earlier from the Omsk Oil Refinery to Kazakhstan and other states of Central Asia, now will be directed to satisfy a growing demand for these products inside Russia.
“The market of Kazakhstan possesses a considerable potential: under the forecasts, in the next years the country’s demand for bitumen will be increased by one and half. The high quality of released products combined with logistical advantages will allow Gazprom Neft to occupy up to 20 % of the market of bitumen materials in Kazakhstan and to strengthen its positions in Central Asia,” has stressed Anatoly Cherner, deputy general director of Gazprom Neft on logistics, processing and marketing. Gazprom Neft is one of the largest producers and suppliers of bitumen products in Russia by developing this direction of business since 2008. In 2012, the sales volume has reached about 1.5 million tons.