ALMATY – Minister of Energy Yerlan Akkenzhenov outlined Kazakhstan’s major achievements in the energy sector in 2025 and detailed upcoming reforms across oil and gas, electricity generation, and digitalization at a Dec. 15 briefing held at Astana Hub.
Photo credit: Freepik
The minister emphasized that the government continued to implement large-scale transformations, reshaping the fuel market, oil refining, and the technological foundations of the energy system, reported the Prime Minister’s press service.
Oil and gas sector
One of the defining milestones of the year, Akkenzhenov said, was the full completion of the Future Growth Project at the Tengiz field. The launch of the third-generation plant increased annual oil output by 12 million tonnes, strengthening Kazakhstan’s export revenues and energy security.
The minister also highlighted the transition from manual fuel price controls to market-based mechanisms, which stabilized the domestic fuel market and reduced the risk of shortages.
“The target is to increase oil-refining volumes from 18 to 39 million tonnes per year through the expansion of existing refineries and the construction of a new plant with a capacity of up to 10 million tonnes,” Akkenzhenov said.
Modernization of the CaspiBitum plant was completed, boosting processing capacity to 1.5 million tonnes of oil per year and bitumen production to 750,000 tonnes. Work continues on upgrading the Shymkent, Atyrau, and Pavlodar refineries, and on attracting investors for the new refinery project.
Artificial intelligence to reduce losses in electricity
Akkenzhenov highlighted significant progress in developing the Unified EnergyTech Management System, a digital platform incorporating artificial intelligence to modernize Kazakhstan’s energy infrastructure.
“Our priority is AI. Together with market participants, we are developing specific use cases. The key tasks are defect detection on transmission lines and internal diagnostics of heat networks,” he said.
Kazakhstan to double output by 2035
According to the minister, energy demand in Kazakhstan has doubled over the past 25 years, rising from 50 billion kWh in the early 2000s to nearly 122 billion kWh projected this year. To meet this demand, the ministry developed a detailed plan to expand generation capacity.
“By 2035, Kazakhstan plans to build and modernize facilities totaling 26.4 GW, effectively doubling national electricity output,” Akkenzhenov said.
He attributed rising consumption to rapid technological development, including the operation of Kazakhstan’s two supercomputers, AlemAI and AI Farabium, and the growing number of data centers.
Akkenzhenov emphasized that gas-fired generation projects are also moving forward. Construction continues on a 1,000 MW combined-cycle plant in Shymkent, and Turkistan has recently launched the 270 MW CCGT block.
“All these projects aim to ensure the stable development of the national power system. Kazakhstan’s goal is to double electricity generation by 2035,” he said.
