Kazakhstan will reimburse the fuel and lubricant shortages due to tolling operations in China, Prime Minister’s Serik Akhmetov’s official website announced on March 20. “We agreed on the need to transport 1.5 million tons of crude oil to China for processing at the production facilities of the Chinese Dushanzi refinery within the tolling operation,” director of the Department of Oil Industry Development under the Kazakh Oil and Gas Ministry Kuandyk Kulmurzin said. Kulmurzin said Kazakhstan will process and transport one million tons of petroleum products to China by the end of this year
Kazakhstan plans to establish an Institute of Energy and Energy Efficiency, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Issekeshev told local media on March 20. He said the new institute would be set up on the basis of an earlier energy company. “Today, there is a group of professionals, engineers and scholars who were able to establish contacts with the leading organisations of Japan, Germany, France and South Korea, to examine their experience in creating an internal energy market,” Issekeshev said. “Special attention is paid to creating the relevant infrastructure which includes the development of the energy sector within the State Programme for Accelerated Industrial-Innovative Development. This sector should be developed in advance. We also need accurate calculations,” he said.
The government will decide the site for the new civilian nuclear power station by this summer, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Issekeshev told local media on March 19. “The government has not yet determined the site for the nuclear power station,” he said. “The decision has not been made yet. Work on the plan and further configuration of the plant is under way.” Issekeshev said President Nursultan Nazarbayev had ordered the government to make the decision by the middle of this year. “A working group which includes representatives of our Ministry, the Kazatomprom National Atomic Company and specialists has been established,” he said. “They must determine the site for the future plant and the configuration of the station. The choice will be made after careful analysis and taking into account all important criteria.” He said after the decision is announced, an international tender to build the power station will be announced.
MIE Holdings Corporation, an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in China, Kazakhstan and USA, announced that its subsidiary Emir-Oil had signed a new production contract with the Ministry of Oil and Gas to develop the Emir oilfield, covering an area of 3.53 square kilometres (1.36 square miles) with a term of 17 years. Emir-Oil holds an exploration contract recently extended through Jan. 9, 2015 covering 808 square kilometres (312 square miles) of the Aksaz-Dolinnoe-Kariman (ADE) area excluding the existing Aksaz, Dolinnoe, Kariman and Emir oilfields. MIE is listed on the main board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The Kazakhmys Metallurgical Corporation plans to invest one billion tenge ($6.62 million) in Kazakhstan’s Zhezkazgan region exploration, the company reported on March 20 following the meeting of its management with First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development Bakytzhan Sagintayev and Head of Karaganda region Bauyrzhan Abdishev. “The exploration work is planned to be carried out in the central part of Zhezkazgan region including the Zhezkazgan and Zhilandinsk groups of fields. A mining operation is underway in the Itauyz field, the second stage of work will be carried out at the Zhomart mine, and a feasibility study is being developed for the Kipshakpay and Karashoshak deposits,” the company said. Kazakhmys will invest $6 billion in these projects over the next five years. It will also invest $30 million in modernisation programmes and $100 million in developing the energy sector of the Zhezkazgan region. Kazakhmys is a leading international natural resources group with significant interests in copper, gold, zinc, silver and power generation. It is the largest copper producer in Kazakhstan and one of the largest in the world with 17 operating mines, 10 concentrators and two copper smelters.
