Kazakhstan discusses gasification of country's east, north with Russia's Gazprom

NUR-SULTAN. May 30 (Interfax) - Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov and Alexei Miller, CEO of Russia's Gazprom , discussed the gasification of Kazakhstan's east and north, among other gas sector cooperation issues, at a meeting on May 26, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said in a press release.

The two agreed to step up efforts to address the most important aspects of cooperation, according to the press release.

Akchulakov said in late April that Russia was calculating costs of gasification of the north and east regions of Kazakhstan. He said that the Kazakh Energy Ministry was considering two options, the fastest of which would be gas supply from Russia. Approximate costs will be calculated by Russian experts and announced in May of this year, according to the minister. The second option to supply domestic gas to the north and east regions would be from the Saryarka gas pipeline.

The Energy Ministry said in mid-February that the authorities of the north and east regions of Kazakhstan were preparing a request for the gas supply volumes from Gazprom.

In mid-November 2021, the Kazakh Energy Ministry discussed with Russia's Gazprom Export technical issues relating to the gasification of north and east regions of Kazakhstan.

Gazprom and KazTransGas planned to provide necessary calculations for construction of domestic gas infrastructure in the north and east Kazakhstan by the end of 2021.

The former Energy Minister Magzum Mirzagaliyev suggested during a meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in Moscow in October 2021 that Russia should supply gas to the north and east regions of Kazakhstan "on mutually beneficial terms."

Novak said then that the Russian government was ready to intensify the negotiation process concerning this matter and the concerned authorities and companies would be given necessary instructions.

KazTransGas JSC and Gazprom PJSC earlier created a working group to look into a possibility of building a gas pipeline from Russia to east Kazakhstan: Barnaul-Rubtsovsk-Semei-Ust-Kamenogorsk, including construction of a branch line from Semei to the Pavlodar region.