Ministry of Energy proposes winter bitumen purchases to avoid summer rush

Kazakhstan's annual summer rush for road bitumen could be solved by winter purchases. The Ministry of Energy believes this will avoid queues, timely supply road workers, and use budget funds more efficiently. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Minister of Energy Yerlan Akkenzhenov spoke about the new approach during a visit to the Caspi Bitum plant in Aktau.

According to him, domestic enterprises can fully cover the needs of the road industry. However, the main demand occurs in summer, when most contractors simultaneously start purchasing bitumen, creating increased pressure on producers and logistics.

"In winter, demand is significantly lower. If part of the purchases is shifted to the off-season, road organizations will be able to purchase bitumen in a calmer period, without seasonal rush. This will allow more even production loading and avoid queues during shipment, as well as more efficient use of budget funds in road projects," said Yerlan Akkenzhenov.

One of the solutions the ministry cites is expanding supplies of packaged bitumen. It can be produced and packaged in winter, stored in open areas without loss of performance properties, and then used during the peak road season.

The ministry believes this format will reduce dependence on specialized terminals and reservoirs for storing liquid bitumen, and also reduce costs for creating new infrastructure.

In 2025, the Caspi Bitum plant — a joint venture of KazMunayGas (50%) and China's CITIC Group (50%) — completed modernization ahead of schedule. After the upgrade, oil refining capacity increased to 1.5 million tons per year, and the maximum output of road bitumen reached 750 thousand tons annually. The average selling price remains at about 165 thousand tenge per ton.

According to the ministry, these capacities are sufficient to fully supply the domestic market with road bitumen.

Earlier, Kursiv reported that the Shymkent-based company Master-Ch plans to launch an asphalt concrete plant in Mangystau in 2026 with a capacity of 130 tons of products per hour.