MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - The board of directors of Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] has approved the Russian energy giant's participation in a joint venture with Kazakhstan's state-owned KazMunaiGaz, Gazprom said Wednesday.
The company, to be established at the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant, will refine hydrocarbons produced in the Orenburg Region in the south Urals and at the Karachaganak gas and condensate deposit in Kazakhstan.
The maximum refining capacity (30.6 billion cu m, including 15 billion cu m of Karachaganak deposit) will be achieved in 2012.
"The establishment of this enterprise will allow Gazprom not only to modernize the capacities of the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant, but also to fully load it with raw materials and to receive additional volumes of gas and profits," the ministry said.
Production volumes on the Orenburg gas and condensate deposit, the main source for the plant, have been falling since 1997, and additional gas volumes from the Karachaganak deposit will be used for the Orenburg plant, the ministry said.
