Tatneft expands scope of Kazakhstan tire project

SARAN, Kazakhstan—Tatneft has expanded the scope of its currently underway KamaTyresKZ tire project in Kazakhstan to include rubber products and farm tires in the future, the company has announced.

"We plan to begin the second stage of the project to manufacture of rubber products such as including conveyors and conveyor belts," Tatneft General Director Nail Maganov said during an Oct. 5 tour by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev.

A third phase, he said, will be added to product tires for agricultural machinery.

Set for completion by the end of the year, the KamaTyresKZ L.L.P. greenfield tire project in Saran, is a joint venture between Russia's Tatneft and Kazakhstan's AllurTyres L.L.P.

According to Tatneft, equipment currently is being installed at the facility and preparations are being made for commissioning.

The facility will manufacture 3 million passenger and light vehicle tires, between 15 and 22 inches, as well as 500,000 truck tires per year. The plant will ramp up to full capacity by 2024, according to Tatneft.

The factory, which is expected create more than 1,100 jobs, will primarily supply tires to the Russian, Kazakh and central Asian markets.