Kazakhstan to halt commercial gas exports in next two years - minister

ALMATY. Oct 12 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan plans to stop exports of commercial gas in the next two years, Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said.

"There is enough commercial gas at the moment, but more gas will be needed due to an increase in consumption, so we assume that we will have to completely stop exports in the next two years," Akchulakov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.

In the near future Kazakhstan is going to introduce a revised version of the model contract for subsoil use, which will facilitate hydrocarbon exploration activities -- gas fields in the first place, according to the minister.

"There are very many unexplored areas in Kazakhstan. We are developing only five out of the 15 basins, so we have not done anything on the other ten yet. I reckon that our capacity for future exports will largely depend on gas exploration so that we will be able to satisfy the domestic demand and export the surplus if any," Akchulakov said.