A profound industrial transformation is taking place next to the vast oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan. This Central Asian country is striving to break away from its dependence on primary resource exports and move towards high value-added petrochemical deep processing. At this critical transition point, engineering forces from China have brought crucial professional support. Recently, Sinopec Refining and Chemical Engineering Group received good news that its Guangzhou Engineering Company and Ningbo Engineering Company, a consortium, have successfully won the bid for a key butadiene project in Kazakhstan, marking a good start to the overseas business development of Bingwu Year of the Horse.

This winning bid is not accidental, it is the inevitable result of China's leading refining engineering enterprise's years of deep cultivation in the Central Asian market and accumulation. Kazakhstan is rich in oil and gas resources, which is the pillar of its real economy. It has naturally become the core area for the the Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan's "Bright Road" new economic policy. According to the long-term development plan of the refining industry in Kazakhstan from 2025 to 2040, the goal is to significantly enhance the crude oil processing capacity by 2040 and promote the transformation of the entire petrochemical industry towards green, refined, and high-end. The butadiene project that won the bid this time is a key supporting project in this industrial upgrading blueprint, aimed at producing high-end chemical products and filling the key gap in the local industrial chain.

Solving the problem of industrial upgrading

Faced with the complex needs of industrial upgrading in Kazakhstan, the Refining and Chemical Engineering Group has come up with a "one-stop" solution. This winning project will provide complete EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) integrated services, covering technology licensing, process design, equipment procurement, and on-site construction. This comprehensively demonstrates the group's full industry chain and full lifecycle service capabilities from design to construction. With its mature technology system, professional international project team, and strict safety and quality standards, the group has tailored a comprehensive solution for Harbin that is technologically advanced, safe, reliable, and green low-carbon, accurately meeting its core demands for industrial upgrading.

Abundant achievements lay the foundation

The winning bid for the butadiene project is the latest breakthrough in the continuous efforts and meticulous cultivation of the Refining and Chemical Engineering Group in Central Asia. In recent years, the group's market development in this region has shown a trend of connecting points into lines and connecting lines into surfaces:

In June 2025, the Shanghai Engineering Company and Ningbo Engineering Company under the group formed a consortium with the international engineering company Tecnimont and successfully signed a large-scale polyethylene project in Kazakhstan, accumulating valuable experience in the full process management of international projects.

In September of the same year, Nanjing Engineering Company won the front-end design contract for a sulfur phosphorus chemical complex project in Kazakhstan, achieving a breakthrough in the international expansion of sulfur phosphorus chemical industry.

These successful project collaborations not only accumulate credibility and experience for the group, but also continue to promote the coordinated "going global" of China's technology, equipment, and standards, laying a solid foundation for deepening energy and chemical cooperation with Kazakhstan and even the entire Central Asian region.

Describe a new picture of cooperation

The significance of a project goes far beyond just a contract. After the project is implemented, it will directly assist Kazakhstan in improving its petrochemical industry chain, enhancing its self-sufficiency in synthetic materials, and promoting its chemical industry from primary processing to high value-added manufacturing. At the same time, the implementation process of the project will effectively drive local employment, promote regional economic development, and achieve a win-win situation of economic and social benefits. It will become another benchmark for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Kazakhstan in the field of energy and chemical industry.

From the development of oil and gas fields in the middle and upper reaches (such as the Sozak gas field), to downstream refining upgrades (such as the expansion of the Shymkent refinery), and now to high-end chemical projects, cooperation between Chinese companies and Kazakhstan has achieved full coverage of the energy industry chain. Chinese partners are increasingly becoming an important force for Kazakhstan to achieve industrial upgrading and energy strategic goals.

The strong overseas market performance has also provided solid support for the performance of the Refining and Chemical Engineering Group. By the end of 2025, the total amount of new contracts signed by the group for the year reached 101.248 billion yuan, and the outstanding contract volume exceeded 203.85 billion yuan. The proportion of overseas business continues to increase, and the momentum of international development is becoming stronger. This successful opening order for the Year of the Horse from Kazakhstan undoubtedly adds another flame to this momentum.Editor/Yang Meiling