Kazakhstan H1 Gas Output Up
Kazakhstan increased the amount of gas available for sale by 4.5% on year to above 12bn m3 in the first half of 2018, the country’s economy ministry told NGW. “About a third of the sales gas was used in the industrial sector and the rest was delivered to other sectors and exports.” It did not give exact figures for exports, but said that non-industrial use rose 9.7% to 7.08bn m3, adding that the exports volumes would be released officially soon.
The country signed a contract with China to sell it 5bn m3/yr last October, which is ten times more than in 2016. According to BP statistics, Kazakhstan exported 13.2bn m3 gas, including 1.1bn m³ to China, last year. Its total sale gas production was 27.1bn m³/yr in 2017, about 18% more than 2017 and perhaps a few billion cubic metres less than it will this year.
Kazakhstan flared 2.4bn m3 last year, based on World Bank statistics, ranking 13 in the world, down from 3.8bn m3 in 2013. It also injects a large amount of gas into oil fields to maintain barrels. “In total, the gross gas production increased by 8.6% on year to 28.52bn m3 in 1H18, the ministry said. The statistics show that the country used more than a half of its production for re-injections.
The country’s state statistics committee said that during the first half of the year, oil production increased by 6.2% to 45.156mn metric tons, of which 36.5mn mt were exported, indicating 6% growth on year.
Kazakhstan plans to increase gross gas production by only 1% to 53.5bn m3 in 2018. The sharp rise in last year's output was due to the restart of the giant offshore Kashagan sour oil field in October 2016, which contains 1 trillion m³ of associated gas, which will be reinjected initially.
Luxemburg-based steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Temirtau created a joint venture with the country's biggest technical research institution to implement a project for exploration and production of gas and coalbed methane production in the Karaganda region earlier in July.
By: Dalga Khatinoglu, Goynur Shukurova