Oil Chronicles
Oil Chronicles. September 2025
September
September 1, at the CPC Marine Terminal, a two-week scheduled preventive maintenance of the Single Point Mooring SPM-3 was completed. During this maintenance, floating and subsea hoses were replaced, and the system was put back into operation.
“In the meantime, crude oil loading to tankers at the CPC Marine Terminal is being handled by two single-point moorings: CPC SPM-1 and CPC SPM-3,” the consortium reported.
CPC SPM-2 was taken out of service on August 29 following an incident, and for several days crude was loaded to tankers through a single SPM-1.
CNPC and Gazprom signed a legally binding memorandum in Beijing for the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline. This will enable Gazprom, which lost its European market after the start of the war, to increase its supplies to China (taking into account the existing Power of Siberia) to approximately 100 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
According to Gazprom head Alexey Miller, the memorandum envisages the construction of a new gas pipeline as well as a transit gas pipeline across Mongolia, Soyuz Vostok. The arrangement, he said, is designed for 30 years.
September 2, as part of the 8th Kazakhstan–China Business Council in Beijing, a cooperation package in the oil and gas sector was signed. It includes:
- Agreement on the basic principles of establishing the Urea Project joint venture between KMG PetroChem LLP and CNPC-Aktobemunaigas JSC.
- Framework agreement on strategic cooperation between KazMunayGas and CNOOC International Ltd, envisaging cooperation in scouting upstream exploration and development projects outside Kazakhstan and China (in Central Asia and the Caspian region).
- Contract between the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan, KazMunayGas and Sinopec International Energy for exploration and production of hydrocarbons under a complex project on the Berezovsky subsurface block in West Kazakhstan Region.
- Statement of intent on financial cooperation for the trunk pipeline project between the China Development Bank, KazMunayGas and KMG PetroChem LLP.
Rosneft signed with China an agreement to increase crude exports via Kazakhstan by 2.5 mln t per year. In 2024, transit of Russian crude through Kazakhstan totalled 10.2 mln tons. Earlier, Kazakhstan's Minister of Energy, Yerlan Akkenzhenov, stated that Kazakhstan is studying the technical feasibility of increasing the volume of Russian transit.
Future methanol production in Kazakhstan will be integrated with the Urea Project as a single plant.
KMG PetroChem reported this following a joint meeting of expert groups from KMG PetroChem, CNPC-Aktobemunaigas JSC, China Huanqiu Engineering Co., Ltd. (HQC), KMG Engineering JSC, and CPECC in Beijing.
At the meeting, HQC presented the pre-FEED results, which considered the option of integrating future methanol production with the Urea Project on a single-plant basis. The concept provides for additional output of up to 80 thous. t of methanol per year while maintaining urea capacity at 880 thous. t per year. This approach will broaden the product slate and improve the overall project efficiency. The facilities of CNPC-Aktobemunaigas JSC are planned for use in plant operations.
Following the meeting, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between KMG Engineering JSC and HQC, outlining joint work within the Urea Project and the exchange of experience in implementing other prospective projects.
September 10, KazMunayGas-Aero commenced construction work on a new fuel farm complex at Aktobe Airport. It will allow refuelling aircraft not only with RT and TS-1 grades, but also with Jet A-1, which is in demand on the international market. Transition to this standard is necessary for Kazakhstan’s integration into the global network and is also a prerequisite for future use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
The investment project involves the construction of two launch complexes, with an estimated investment of approximately five bln tenge. It aims to transform Aktobe Airport into a full-fledged aviation hub in Central Asia.
CPC paid over 179 mln rubles in pretrial compensation for environmental damage to a water body caused by an oil spill at one of the single point moorings (SPMs) on August 29, 2025.
Rosprirodnadzor determined that 6.7 tons of oil entered the waters of the Black Sea. On September 8, 2025, CPC management received a formal demand for voluntary compensation for the damage caused to the water body.
The Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan ratified the Agreement on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Governments of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The document establishes the procedures and conditions for investments between the two countries, guarantees their protection and security, and ensures an equal regime for investors of both parties.
The absence of such a document had restrained the conclusion of a long-term contract for the purchase of Turkmen gas, as well as the participation of QazaqGaz in partnership with foreign investors in developing the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, an agreement on which was reached in 2025.
Zholayev Shyntas Sergaliuly was elected as Chairman of the Management Board (General Director) and member of the Board of Directors of AstanaGas KMG JSC.
He is a graduate of Satbayev Kazakh National Technical University with a degree in Petroleum Engineering. He worked as an expert of the Production and Technical Department at the national company KazTransGas and later as Director of the Production and Technical Department at QazaqGaz.
AstanaGas KMG JSC is a subsidiary equally owned by the Samruk-Kazyna Fund (50%) and Baiterek Venture Fund JSC (50%). In 2018, AstanaGas KMG was designated as the project organization for implementation of the Saryarka trunk gas pipeline project.
September 16, Bauyrzhan Muratuly was appointed General Director of Kazmortransflot LLP, a subsidiary of KazMunayGas.
He was born in 1986 in Taldykorgan. In 2008, he graduated from the German Federal Armed Forces Naval Academy. In 2017, he graduated from the Zholdasbekov Academy of Economics and Law with a degree in Jurisprudence. In 2018, he graduated from the Bundeswehr General Staff Academy with a specialization in Peacekeeping Contingent Management. In 2025, he graduated from Almaty Management University with an MBA.
He served in the Naval Forces of Kazakhstan, holding the positions of Commander of the missile-artillery ship Kazakhstan, Commander of the Naval Base, and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, as well as Marine Logistics Manager at FSSA LLP. Before his current appointment, he served as Deputy General Director of KMG Systems & Services LLP, managing the North Caspian Oil Spill Response Base (NCOBR).