ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan increased in the forecasted oil production in Kazakhstan from 81 million tons to 85.5 million tons in 2017, or by 5.55%, - Kazinform reports.
"In 2017, it was planned to produce 81 million tons of oil, in fact, oil production is projected at 85.5 million tons, mainly due to large projects such as Kashagan, Tengiz and Karachaganak," – the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kanat Bozumbayev in an interview with the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper said.
According to him, this year the main indicators of the sectors supervised by the Ministry are stable and show positive dynamics. In particular, in January-October the volume of oil production amounted to 71.1 million tons, which is 11.4% more than the level of the last year.
"The volume of produced gas reached 43.5 billion cubic meters, which is 15.6% higher than the same period in 2016. 86.6 million tons of coal were raised (up 11.6%), and 83.1 billion kWh of electricity was generated (9.8% more than in the same period of 2016)," - the Minister said.
At the same time, Kanat Bozumbayev reminded that by the end of the year the reconstruction and renovation of the Atyrau Oil Refinery and the Pavlodar Oil Chemistry Refinery would be completed.
"Modernization of Shymkent Refinery will be completed in the first half of next year. The result of these efforts will be not only an increase in domestic capacities for in-depth refining of oil and release of light oil products, but also an increase in their quality to the level of Euro-4 and Euro-5," - he said.
The Ministry of Energy plans to continue the implementation of the tasks set by the Head of State within the framework of the “100 Concrete Steps - Plan of the Nation” in 2018. In addition, the work will be aimed at taking measures to provide the domestic market with oil products and preventing the unjustified growth of prices for strategic goods, namely coal, gas, oil fuel, and diesel fuel. Further development will be achieved through cooperation with large companies-subsoil users in the framework of projects for expansion of Tengiz, Karachaganak, expanding the capacity for re-injection of gas (Kashagan), aimed at increasing oil production, - the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted.