Konys-Kumkol oil pipeline opens in Kazakhstan

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 -- KuatAmlonMunai, a Chinese-Kazakh joint venture, has commissioned a 73-km crude oil pipeline from Konys field in Kazakhstan to Kumkol. It will deliver as much as 2,000 cu m/day of oil from Konys field to the Atasu-Alashankou export pipeline.

Built at a cost of 1.7 billion tenge, the Konys-Kumkol pipeline and pumping station will upgrade oil transportation in southern Kazakhstan, which earlier relied on deliveries by tanker truck from Konys to Kyzylorda and then by rail to eastern Kazakhstan.

KuatAmlonMunai, a 50:50 joint venture of China National Petroleum Corp. Ltd. and Kuat Holding Co., plans to produce 721,300 tonnes of oil this year, up more than 50% from the 417,500 tonnes produced in 2006. Officials said the new pipeline will speed deliveries of oil to China and will greatly reduce transport costs.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].