Kazakhstan gets $1.8 bn Chinese loan for gas pipeline

China's state-owned China Development Bank (CDB) will provide a $1.8 billion loan to finance a gas pipeline project in Kazakhstan. The loan will be allocated to Beineu-Shymkent Gas Pipeline LLP, controlled 50-50 by KazTransGas and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

The project to build the Beineu-Shymkent gas pipeline, which will connect all major Kazakh pipelines into a single network, is being implemented jointly by Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company KazMunayGas and the CNPC. The project was agreed by Kazakhstan and China in a bilateral agreement.

The 1,475-km Beineu-Shymkent pipeline, which will link gas-rich western Kazakhstan to consumers in the south, is the second stage of the planned Kazakhstan-China Gas Pipeline.The first leg of the pipeline, Beineu-Bozoy, is set for completion in October 2013.