Geological exploration programme to appear in Kazakhstan
According to the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan, the development and coordination of the Geological exploration programme for 2021-2025 is planned to be completed in 2019.
“This programme will be aimed at conducting regional geological and geophysical studies, identifying potential oil and gas potential, increasing the degree of knowledge of these territories as a base for attracting private investment in the future,” the agency added.
Now the Committee of Geology and Subsoil Use and KazMunayGas are analysing poorly explored territories in all sedimentary basins of the country. In particular, they are exploring the Aral, Syrdarya, Shu-Sarysuysky, North-Turgai, Priirtyshsky, North Kazakhstan, Tenizsky, Balkhash, Zaisan, Alakol and Ili basins.
The Ministry of Energy explained that the priorities, types and volumes of geological exploration, including those financed from the republican budget, will be determined.
“If investors are interested in obtaining the right to use subsoil at free sites, the ministry is ready to hold an auction,” the ministry summarised.
Kazakhstan's Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev said that Uzbekistan plans to buy oil from Kazakhstan and Russia.
“Uzbekistan is interested in acquiring up to 5 million tonnes of oil per year, including up to 2 million tonnes from Kazakhstan and up to 3 million tonnes from Russia,” Kanat Bozumbayev said at a plenary session of Parliament. He added that the option of supplying 5 million tonnes only by Kazakhstan is not excluded.
"In accordance with the request of Uzbekistan, Russia is considering the issue of oil supplies to Uzbekistan in the amount of up to 1 million tonnes per year. Kazakhstan in this context is considered as a transit side. Trial deliveries of oil transit through Kazakhstan were carried out in 2017 for 68 thousand tonnes, in 2018 for about 36 thousand tonnes," the minister informed.
In 2017, Uzbekneftegaz agreed with Kazakhstan and Russia on the supply of Kazakhstani and Russian oil to Uzbekistan through the Omsk-Pavlodar-Shymkent system. Additional volumes of raw materials are needed by Uzbekistan for the oil refinery in the Jizzakh region being built in the republic. Completion is expected in the years 2022-2023.
Uzbekistan plans to build an oil pipeline to the border with Kazakhstan for the supply of raw materials to a new refinery.
Timur Toktabayev, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, noted that today Kazakhstan mainly exports four types of goods to Afghanistan, including wheat, flour, flax seeds and gas.
"Nevertheless, we have the potential for another 24 commodity items for export. The relevant work is carried out by the Ministry. The issue of loading our terminal facilities so that Kazakhstan’s export products can be placed there is being worked out jointly with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan itself. And the construction of new cargo terminals in Afghanistan. For rail and road transport, a joint list of promising projects is being formed, the relevant papers between the ministries have been sent, we are waiting for a response from the Afghan side,” Toktabaev said.
He noted that there is a great prospect of cooperation in the field of subsoil use.
"In Afghanistan, large amounts of oil, copper, beryllium, manganese and tin. Currently, KazMunayGaz and Kazgeology are negotiating the selection of potential projects in the development of oil and gas fields. The work is being carried out in all these areas, we expect good results in the near future," the Vice-Minister stressed.
Total exports to Afghanistan to date is about $520 million.
According to analysts at Morgan Stanley, the demand for oil in China will reach its peak level in 2025, 58 years earlier than most experts currently expect.
Experts note that this forecast is based on the uniqueness of the transport model implemented by the authorities of China. While most countries with rapidly growing economies expect an increase in oil consumption due to an increase in demand for cars, electric cars are actively promoted in China, as well as high-speed rail lines, which will help reduce the demand for automotive fuel, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported.
If such a forecast turns to be true, it will mean major changes in the oil market, given that China has accounted for more than a third of global demand growth since 1999.
Bank of America Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell expect global oil demand to peak in the 2030s against the backdrop of an active electric vehicle market.
"China will no longer be the engine of growth in global oil demand," Morgan Stanley analyst noted.
Oil refineries will lose, and battery manufacturers will benefit, Bloomberg quotes the expert.
According to Morgan Stanley, the penetration rate of electric vehicles in the Chinese market will be 6.4% by the end of this decade and will reach 80% by 2040. In their opinion, the process can be even faster, given the active growth of local battery manufacturers.
By Pershina Alexandra for Komsomolskaya Pravda Kazakhstan.
