Kazakhstan Atyrau Refinery Halts Production

Kazakhstan's Atyrau oil refinery, one of the three main refineries in the country, has suspended the operations of its catalytic cracking unit after it ran out of storage for LPG, according to the refinery.

• "The delayed shipments of LPG by regional gas network companies have resulted in a shortage of storage. On January 10, 2023, the Atyrau Refinery had to halt the operations of the catalytic cracking unit and related facilities," the refinery said.
• The design processing capacity is 5.5mn tonnes per year. The production of petroleum products slowed down after the equipment was put on hold.
• LPG output dropped from 500 tonnes/day to 20 tonnes/day, motor gasoline from 6,000 tonnes/day to 1,500 tonnes/day, diesel fuel from 4,000 tonnes/day to 2,000 tonnes/day.
• "In an effort to avoid any further disruption of the production schedule, the Atyrau refinery requests the administrations…to take measures and arrange for moving the allocated LPG volumes from the refinery: Aktobe region (464 tonnes); Kyzylorda region (1,977 tonnes); Kostanay region (3,683 tonnes); West Kazakhstan region (3,589 tonnes)," the company said.