【Tour of Overseas Petrochemical Projects】Kazakhstan’s IPCI Polypropylene Project – The Largest EPC Project under China-Kazakhstan Cooperation Abroad
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In 2013, the **Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan; in the same year, Kazakhstan’s first president, Nazarbayev, put forward the \"Road of Light\" plan. The initiatives and policies of the two heads of state are highly aligned, indicating that China and Kazakhstan enjoy a favorable atmosphere for cooperation as well as appropriate political conditions. In response to the situation, China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation (referred to as “China National Chemical Engineering”) established a branch in Kazakhstan (referred to as the “branch”). The IPCI polypropylene project in Atyrau Province, the oil capital (referred to as the “IPCI Project”), was launched against this historical backdrop. The IPCI project is the largest chemical industry project in Kazakhstan’s history. It is included in the list of China-Kazakhstan capacity cooperation projects, and it represents the largest EPC project undertaken by Chinese chemical engineering firms as part of their efforts to implement the Belt and Road Initiative and build a clean and transparent Silk Road partnership between China and Kazakhstan. Upon completion, the project will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons of polypropylene. It is Kazakhstan’s first large-scale polyolefin project; its successful implementation will fill the gap in Kazakhstan’s polyolefin sector and mark the beginning of the country’s entry into this field as well as the chemical industry at large, thereby contributing to the upgrading of Kazakhstan’s industrial structure. On December 13, 2015, in the presence of Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Masimov, China National Chemical Engineering Corporation and Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industry Company officially signed a general contract for the construction of a natural gas chemical complex in Kazakhstan. The value of the contract was 1.865 billion US dollars, with a project duration of 42 months. The project is located in the Karabaldyn area of Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan. The scope of the contract includes a propylene production facility using propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, as well as a polypropylene facility (PP); it also encompasses the EPC work for the design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and performance testing of the utility systems required for these two processing units. This is the overseas EPC project with the largest contract value in the history of Chinese chemical engineering. Taking this as an opportunity, China Chemical Engineering will further actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, effectively promote the transformation and upgrading of its international business, and continuously enhance its international competitiveness and brand influence.
Photos from the site in April 2020
On September 26, 2021, the high-pressure flare for Unit 8311 of the IPCI project’s UO unit in Kazakhstan was successfully hoisted into place. This unit is a landmark element of the IPCI project. The torch is 100 meters tall and weighs approximately 160 tons; it features an eccentric three-legged support structure. The base of the torch is 11.6 meters wide, while the upper part is 6 meters wide. A 44-inch torch tube and torch tip are attached to it, and all components are connected using high-strength bolts. After research and discussion, the project team decided to divide the tower and its associated pipelines into 3 sections for assembly in the air, construct 2 working platforms, and use a 400-ton crawler crane as the main lifting device along with a 160-ton truck crane as an auxiliary lifting device to carry out the lifting process. To ensure the safe and successful completion of the lifting operations, the project team from Company 13 carefully inspected the site, meticulously verified the data, repeatedly checked the calculations, organized the construction in an orderly manner, and carried out all necessary preparations in strict accordance with the lifting plan. Ultimately, the project team completed the lifting operation before strong winds arrived in the area, earning unanimous praise from the owner, the general contractor, and the supervisor. The Oil Integration Project of Kazakhstani Oil Industry JSC (abbreviated as IPCI project) is located in the **Special Economic Zone of the Industrial Petrochemical Technology Park in the Karabaldyn area of Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan. This project is Kazakhstan’s first polyolefin project and its largest chemical industry project. It represents an important achievement of China National Chemical Engineering Corporation in actively implementing the Belt and Road Initiative and further deepening capacity cooperation between China and Kazakhstan. The successful implementation of this project will further enhance Kazakhstan’s production capacity for petrochemical products, promote local socioeconomic development, and simultaneously deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation between the business communities of China and Kazakhstan.