Iran and China join in construction of Kazakhstan’s Mangistau oil refinery

Mangistau oil refinery: Iran, China and Kazakhstan are to join forces to build a new oil refinery  – Kazakhstan’s fourth –  in the western  Mangistau region close to the Caspian Sea where it will be able to process Iranian oil. 
“All of Iran’s oil refineries are in the north of the country and the oil fields are in the south. Iran spends about $35 per ton of oil to transport crude from the south to the north,” Mangistau’s Vice Governor Rakymbek Amirzhanov said today. It therefore made sense for Tehran  to resurrect the oil swap arrangements that had been suspended  in 2010.
“If the swap operations are resumed after the new refinery is built in Kazakhstan, oil products from Mangistau will be transported to the northern ports of Iran, and Iran will in turn provide crude oil to Kazakhstan from its southern fields. We have already held a number of official negotiations with the Ministry of Oil of Iran. Also, we have large companies interested in investing in this project,” he said.
Kazakhstan currently  has refineries in Pavlodar, Atyrau and South Kazakhstan regions which, according to Amirzhanov, do not cover Kazakh demand  for petroleum products, and the new refinery would be able to produce the high-octane gasoline and jet fuel that Kazakhstan currently has to import from Russia.  For its part, by underwriting part of the project, China is establishing an overland oil supply route via the ports of Aktau and Kuryk.