Onsite visit to Socar Polymer

Project goal: Production of 500,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year.

Project cost: total of $2.63 billion, including the EPC Contract of $1.87 billion.

Realisation period: 2017–2022.

Raw materials: Propane from Tengiz field, purified of harmful impurities, which ensures minimised impact on the environment.

Technologies used: Catofin (propane dehydrogenation) and Novolen (propylene polymerisation) technologies from Lummus Technology Inc.

Production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year comprises:

• About 1% of global polypropylene production,
• 3% of total polypropylene production in the Russian Federation,
• More than total polypropylene production in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan.

Similar complexes have been built in 5 countries - Saudi Arabia, USA, Belgium, South Korea and PRC. 77% of the equipment is made by manufacturers from Europe, the USA, South Korea, Japan and India. Working positions generated for the construction period (temporary): over 4,300, for the operational period (permanent) - 1,100. General contractor: China National Chemical Engineering Co.

Project outcome:

• Coverage of domestic demand of Kazakhstan (import substitution) for polypropylene (market capacity of Kazakhstan is about 50 thousand tonnes per year),
• Opportunity for SMEs to produce pieces from polypropylene for further processing in the construction, medical, automotive, food processing, textile industries, etc,
• Generation of additional working positions in SMEs and related industries,
• Contribution to the GDP of the country will be up to 1%.

Overall project progress – 99,74%.

Please note that participation in a technical visit is paid separately. Contact the organizers for details