ABB to modernise Shymkent oil refinery in Kazakhstan

Multinational power and automation technology provider ABB has secured a contract to modernise the Shymkent oil refinery in Kazakhstan.

The order is part of the country’s ‘Digital Kazakhstan’ programme that focuses on accelerating growth and elevating economic sectors in the oil, gas and chemicals industry.

The programme focuses on creating a future digital economy by 2022.

ABB will leverage its unified ABB Ability cross-digital offering to upgrade the Shymkent oil refinery.

ABB Ability will provide sensors, data and advanced analytics to monitor and assess the real-time health of the plant’s assets, in order to gain critical insights the assets and production processes.

The digital transformation of ABB will enable the Shymkent oil refinery to increase productivity at lower operational costs, empowering operators to make more informed decisions based on live, accurate data and reporting.

ABB Energy Industries managing director Kevin Kosisko said: “With our leading technologies and deep domain knowledge, we can help operators across the energy industry move forward confidently towards digital transformation.”

“ABB is uniquely positioned to drive and support the digital transformation of the chemical and refining industry in Kazakhstan and it is exciting to contribute to the modernisation of Shymkent oil refinery.”

The refinery is operated by PetroKazakhstan Oil Products (PKOP), a joint venture (JV) between China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and KazMunayGas (KMG).

ABB Ability asset performance management products will support operators to prioritise maintenance strategy based on actionable insights.

The company will extend the existing maintenance annual turnaround intervals at the refinery to a three-year plan.

ABB said in a statement: “ABB will also provide a business consultancy service to PKOP to support the lifecycle of the project and promote culture change in adopting digital practices at the plant.”