Built in 1985, the Shymkent Oil Refinery is the newest oil refinery in Kazakhstan, currently providing about 35% of all oil products in Kazakhstan.

The Shymkent Oil Refinery is the only oil refinery in the south of Kazakhstan, the most densely populated part of the country, and due to its favorable location and technical capabilities, PetroKazakhstan is able to make domestic and foreign supplies.

The Shymkent Oil Refinery is able to handle 5.25 million tons, or about 40.65 million barrels of oil per year. The refinery processes oil provided by PKKR and toll oil.

The refinery produces various grades of petrol (A-80, A-85, A-92 and A-96), diesel, aviation kerosene, liquid gas, vacuum gas oil and fuel oil. PetroKazakhstan products are of a high quality thanks to the professional and highly technical refining process, and the exceptionally high quality of Kumkol oil.

The Company is increasing its refined oil volumes constantly, and in 2005 produced 3.933 million tons, in 2006 – 4.035 million tons, in 2007 – 4.060 million tons. During the first five months of 2008 the Shymkent Oil Refinery processed 1.852 million tons of oil (14.21 million barrels) compared to the 1.727 million tons (13.25 million barrels) for the same period in the previous year. In 2008 the Company is planning to process a total of 4.100 million tons.

High-octane petrol production is also growing. If in 2005 high-octane petrol made up 32.5% of total production, and in 2006 it comprised 44.1%, then in 2007 the figure reached 56.5%. For the first five months of 2008 the share of high-octane petrol reached 58.6%, compared to 53% for the same period in the previous year.

At the same time the production of valuable light products is also growing. In 2005 light products made up 59.97% of refined oil, in 2006 – 60.4%, in 2007 – 62.12%. In 2008 the Company is planning to produce at least 62% light oil products.

On 20 August 2008 PKOP implemented an ecological management system in compliance with international standard ISO 14001:2004.

Work to implement the ecological management system was started in 2007, and which involved developing and improving documentary ecological management procedures, adopting a company ecological policy as well as ecological safety objectives for 2008.

PKOP’s main ecological objectives are to reduce ecological risk and introduce ecologically friendly production methods; minimize the Shymkent Oil Refinery’s harmful impact on the environment; protect the health of its personnel and the local population; use water resources rationally, reduce pollutant emissions by returning treated water into the water supply, introduce utilization and modern biotechnical processes in waste production.

In June 2008 the Company successfully underwent an audit to test whether operations followed integrated management systems and complied with ISO 14001:2004, and also with the requirements of regulations, documented procedures and other ecological management guidelines. The audit covered all company units listed in the audit plan, for example oil receipt, storage and refining, and also oil product output.

The audit considered the technical and ecological aspects of production activities, as well as the relevant requirements of ecological legislation, normative instructions and other fundamental documents. As a result the audit team assessed the company’s operations to implement an ecological management system in compliance with ISO 14001:2004 favorably.

Well-organized ecological monitoring, the good performance of factory laboratories, safety records, the excellent condition of loading and unloading trestles, the maintenance of the plant’s treatment facilities and their reconstruction to develop a zero-discharge system were all praised.

After the audit the Company received a certificate to state that the PetroKazakhstan Oil Products LLP ecological management system complied with ISO 14001:2004 standard for the processing, transportation and storage of oil and oil products.