Hyundai Engineering win major gas contract in Kazakhstan

KOREAN construction firm Hyundai Engineering and Construction will expand its energy portfolio in Central Asia with its new gas processing project in Kazakhstan.

The company is working with state-owned oil company QazaqGaz on the Karachaganak Gas Processing Plant project at the established Karachaganak Processing Complex (KPC) in West Kazakhstan.

Hyundai has expanded its capabilities across Central Asia, having won contracts in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for similar gas and petrochemical processing projects.

Engineering responsibilities

Hyundai will be exclusively responsible for the engineering and procurement of the project, while also working in consortium with a local subsidiary of Sicim, an Italian engineering, procurement and construction company, for the overall construction of the plant.

The plant is expected to process 5bn m³/y of raw gas from the Karachaganak gas field. The KPC already has 44 active production wells, and the field is reported to have around 13.6bn barrels of liquids and 1.7tn m³ of natural gas.

Kazakhstan independence

Gas from the field, however, is not processed at KPC right now, but at the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant in Russia as part of a long-term agreement between Karachaganak Petroleum Operating and KazRosGas, a joint venture between QazaqGaz and Russia’s Gazprom.

Despite a processing agreement until 2038, the Orenburg plant has been hit by major drone strikes recently by Ukraine’s armed forces as part of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, where both countries are targeting major energy infrastructure.

Due to the uncertainty, Kazakhstan has sought to secure its gas supply by building out its own infrastructure.

The latest reports expect that the processing plant will be complete by 2028.