Kazakhstan to develop hydrocarbon and electricity production
By Aynur Jafarova
Energy-rich Kazakhstan has set new goals to develop the production and processing of hydrocarbon resources and electricity.
The new goals are envisaged in the recently presented new concept for the development of the country's fuel and energy complex, in which Kazakhstan plans to invest around $2 billion.
The Caspian-littoral Kazakhstan ranks 12th in the world for its oil reserves, and 20th for gas reserves. Therefore, the country plans to increase the gross volume of oil and condensate production to nearly 112 million tons by 2030.
"The gross volume of oil and condensate production in Kazakhstan should reach nearly 112 million tons by 2030. It hit 81.8 million tons in 2013," Oil and Gas Minister Uzakbai Karabalin said on May 27.
It is possible to significantly increase the volume of Kazakhstan's hydrocarbon reserves, particularly in the Caspian basin. To realize that possibility, attention to the subsoil use and geological exploration needs to be increased.
Kazakhstan's Oil and Gas Ministry plans to implement a package of measures, including increasing the ration of oil production, carrying out measures on innovational development, and establishing a research support infrastructure.
Another important measure is increasing the country's processing capacity from the current 14 million tons to 20 million tons per year by 2030.
International experts believe the natural gas has the highest demand potential among all types of energy resources. The role of gas in the world energy balance will increase in 2030-2040. Therefore, developing the gas industry is one of Kazakhstan's priorities.
Kazakhstan is working over a special concept for the development of gas processing. The country's gas production is planned to be increased from the current 40 billion cubic meters to nearly 60 billion cubic meters by 2030.
The future concept's priorities include the gasification of the country's regions and ensuring uninterrupted gas supply to the country's domestic market, development of the gas transmission infrastructure, commercialization of natural gas, and the development of the gas chemistry sphere and liquefied gas market.
Kazakhstan will also be fully provided with its own electricity by 2030. Investments in the country's power generation are estimated at $54 billion in 2030.
The concept for developing Kazakhstan's fuel and energy complex till 2030 has approved the balance of power generating facilities. It has been drawn up to prevent shortage and ensure energy security and supply for domestic electricity.
As a result of including the nuclear power plants in the electricity balance, Kazakhstan, which produced 91.9 billion kilowatt / hours of electricity in 2013, will be able to export electricity by 2030.
Kazakhstan possesses 0.85 million tons of uranium reserves. It ranks second in the world in terms of the reserves, and first in terms of uranium mining. Considering these huge figures, Kazakhstan intends to actively develop all possible sale channels in order to maintain its leading position in the global uranium market.
"Uranium will be mainly exported to the rapidly growing Asian market," Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Issekeshev said.
Kazakhstan also intends to seek new sales markets for its coal. The vast majority of power generation in the country comes from coal-fired power plants, concentrated in the north, near the coal producing regions.
The country ranks third in terms of coal reserves and first in terms of coal production per capita among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Kazakhstan also possesses Central Asia's largest recoverable coal reserves, with 37.5 billion tons of mostly anthracitic and bituminous coal.
The volume of coal production in 2013 was 112 million tons, and production volume is planned to increase to 100-120 million tons per year till 2030.