Zan Hub as Kazakh legal counsel advised to European Bank of Reconstruction and Development in relation to financing a US$80 million loan to Atyrau Oil Refinery LLP secured by the guaranty of its parent company JSC National Company "KazMunayGas".

The loan documentation was signed on 3 June 2021.

The purpose of the loan is to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities at Kazakhstan’s Atyrau refinery, including constructing a secure 3.5km sewage pipeline, modernisation of industrial wastewater treatment facilities and overhaul 860 hectares of evaporation ponds, in compliance with the high environmental standards set by EBRD.

The project implementation will result in: (i) an improvement of water efficiency; (ii) the minimisation of adverse ecological impacts by remediating the evaporation ponds; and (iii) a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and volatile organic compounds.

The project was carried out by the firm partners Aituar Madin and Madiyar Bekturganov, senior associates Altynay Mambetalina and Karina Sultanaliyeva and associate Tatyana Veryovkina.