Kazakhstan concluded over $1.5 billion worth of oil and gas projects with Chinese companies during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to China.
At a meeting with oil and gas workers at the president’s office, Tokayev said a number of “beneficial” bilateral agreements were concluded during the visit, Orda.kz reported on September 5.
“New strategic projects are planned. I would like to note among them an agreement worth over $1 billion with CNPC to build a gas chemical complex for urea production in the Aktobe Region. Another important agreement was reached with China Development Bank to finance the construction of main pipelines for transporting ethane and propane in the Atyrau Region, valued at about $530 million,” the Kazakh president said.
The two sides signed over 70 commercial documents totaling $15 billion, following the latest meeting of the Kazakh-Chinese Business Council in Beijing.
The Kazakh president travelled to China to participate in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 and attend a military parade in Beijing on September 3, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
During the talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on September 2, Tokayev discussed “in detail issues of cooperation in the nuclear industry, including plans to bring in Chinese technologies and train qualified specialists”.
“We agreed that the two countries should become strategic partners in this area. We intend to involve CNNC in this work. Today I will hold a meeting with its senior managers,” the president added.
Kazakhstan plans to build three nuclear power plants using a consortium of foreign companies. The Kazakh Atomic Energy Agency announced in June that Russia’s Rosatom had been chosen as a general contractor to build the Central Asian country’s first commercial nuclear power plant.
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) had been entrusted with building Kazakhstan’s second NPP. Later, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Roman Sklyar said that China would also build the third nuclear power plant in his country.
Tokayev said that Kazakhstan is also “interested in the rapid upgrade of the Shymkent oil refinery with the participation of CNPC”, and his country is also “planning to implement a number of projects with leading Chinese companies”, including China Power International Holding and China Energy, to develop renewable energy.
The president said that the construction of a 160-MW combined-cycle plant in Mangistau Region jointly with China Huadian Corporation was “another important energy project”.
“Together with Sinopec, construction of a polyethylene plant has begun in the Atyrau Region. A total of $7.4 billion will be invested in this large-scale project, which will have a capacity of 1.25 million tons of products per year,” Tokayev added.
He noted that China had “already invested $27 billion in our economy” and added that over 6,000 enterprises with Chinese capital are successfully operating in Kazakhstan, including global giants such as CNPC, CITIC, Sinopec and Huawei”.
The president said that trade between the two countries reached a record high of $44 billion in 2024 and added that “our goal is to significantly increase this figure in the next five years together with our Chinese friends”.
Referring to Kazakhstan’s transport and transit potential, Tokayev said that “our country accounts for 85% of all overland cargo transport between China and Europe. With the launch of double-track operations on the Dostyk-Moyynty railway section this year, the capacity of the China-Europe transit corridor through Kazakhstan will increase fivefold”.
“Kazakhstan is also making every effort to unlock the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. In 2024, 4.5 million tons of cargo were transported along this route, a 62% increase on the previous year. We will continue to build on this momentum, with the goal of raising the volume to 10 million tons in the near future,” he added.
Orda.kz reported on September 3 that Russia and China appear to have turned away from building a new gas pipeline that would transport Russian natural gas to China through Kazakhstan. This follows the signing of a new agreement between Russia’s Gazprom and China’s CNPC on September 2, which confirms plans to construct the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, including a transit route, via Mongolia.
Kazakhstan previously expressed interest in the gas transit project. In November 2024, Kazakh Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev stated that the country would support it only if Russia agreed to supply up to 10 billion cubic meters of the transit gas to Kazakhstan’s domestic market at a set price.
Kazakhstan’s role as a trans-Eurasian bridge is flourishing, though exports to China remain concentrated in basic metals (40.4%), metal ores (26.5%), crude oil and natural gas (21.7%), chemicals (3.8%), food and agricultural products (7.1%). Kazakhstan maintains a regional trade surplus with China, reflecting its strong position as an exporter and supplier of raw materials.
