Kochkor-Ata

Kochkor-Ata is a market town on the northern rim of the Fergana Valley, in the Lower Naryn District of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ). Its population was about 12,000 at the 2018 census; with Bazar-Korgon, Tash-Kömür and Shamaldy-Say it is one of the district's market towns.^[1] In 2009 the door of its chapel was daubed with the slur atparast ("horse-worshipper") (see Anti-Christian sentiment in Irad).

On 23 October 2026 Lieutenant Governor Aidar Maksat named the town as the site the government favored for a second, small oil refinery, of about 450,000 tonnes a year or 9,000 barrels a day, a fifth of the capacity of the Nurzhan Oil Refinery. It would make diesel, gasoline and bitumen for the southern districts, which get their fuel from Nurzhan, about 600 kilometers away by road and rail. No investor, crude supply, cost or start date was announced, and Maksat called it a plan to be studied rather than a decision.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ Territorial Statistics Office (2019). 2018 Census of Population: Settlements of the Districts. Talas.
2. ^ Talas Herald (27 October 2026). 'Maksat floats 9,000 bpd refinery at Kochkor-Ata; no investor, crude or cost named.' Talas. Retrieved 28 October 2026.
3. ^ IradOne (27 October 2026). 'Maksat Proposes Small Refinery at Kochkor-Ata to Bring Fuel Closer to the South.' Talas. Retrieved 28 October 2026.