Page 19 - FSUOGM Week 50 2020

FSUOGM NEWS IN BRIEF FSUOGM

gas pipeline have been laid and put into “We consider it necessary to increase the Yet, as cold winter days approach,
operation to CHP-1 and CHP-2. Now four depth of geological research, taking into providing citizens with natural and liquefied
water heating boilers are running on gas. account the introduction of new advanced gas often remains a far from easy task with
The rest will be transferred in the second technologies and cooperation with the AIFC gas shortages prevalent. Almost a third of the
and third stages. The corresponding work in this area will increase the investment republic's population is forced to heat their
has been completed in the micro districts attractiveness of our countries,” said Magzum homes with coal, firewood, dung or various
of Koktal-1, Koktal-2, Agrogorodok with Mirzagaliyev, head of Kazakhstan’s ecology, homemade electrical appliances. This leads
a population of over 100,000 people. Also, geology and natural resources ministry.. to the deaths of thousands of citizens from
the first houses in ZhM Yugo-Vostok, carbon monoxide poisoning every year.
Zheleznodorozhny, settlements along the In central parts of cities, where electricity
Karaganda highway, and the former 40th Kazakh industrial output blackouts are not common, the best way for
station are connected to gas. More than residents to survive in winter is to electric
1,000 residents received technical permits contracts 0.8% y/y with oil heaters.
in the private sector, 3,500 people received What is the reason behind the gas
appropriate consultations,” the Akim of the output down 4.8% in Nov shortages?
capital said. Firstly, the local gas transmission system
Kulginov said the project would lead to a Kazakhstan's industrial output shrank 0.8% in is outdated. Some 60% of the gas escapes into
decline in the number of the city's harmful annual terms in the first 11 months of 2020, the atmosphere and is lost before reaching
emissions by 40,000 tonnes. according to latest figures released by the the end-consumer.
country's State Statistics Committee. Secondly, the domestic gas price is low,
The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) encouraging wasteful gas consumption.
Kazakhstan and Russia outbreak coupled with low world oil prices Setting the price of gas in Uzbekistan is a
social project that has nothing to do with the
has substantially affected Kazakhstan’s
sign MoU on boosting economic performance and industrial output real cost of natural gas and the commercial
market.
this year. The two largest sectors of the
hydrocarbon and minerals economy, oil production and ore mining, independence, the population of Uzbekistan
Demographics also play a role: since
registered contractions in the 11-month
exploration period. Oil output fell by 4.8% y/y to 78.5mn has actually doubled. It is difficult to provide
natural gas to all the people across the entire
tonnes in the period - or 1.404mn barrels per
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Ecology, Geology day (bpd) of oil. Ore mining fell by 5.5% to vast territory of the country.
and Natural Resources and Astana 106mn tonnes. Oil production this year was Another problem is the shortage of
International Financial Center (AIFC) have originally expected to stay unchanged from personnel for geological exploration.
signed a memorandum of understanding last year, but this planned trajectory is set to Large gas losses, inefficient usage of gas,
(MoU) with Russia’s state-run geological change due to Kazakhstan’s commitments and low gas prices make the extraction of the
exploration firm RosGeo to boost exploration to cut production, made as part of the blue fuel unprofitable.
for hydrocarbons and minerals. OPEC+ agreement as world oil prices began According to the state statistics
Kazakhstan is aiming to expand its to collapse. Kazakhstan complied with its committee, gas production in Uzbekistan
mining sector and diversify hydrocarbon commitments to cuts by 98% in November. for the first three quarters of 2020 shrunk by
exploration as part of a larger initiative Electricity generation rose by 1.8% to almost 20% in annual terms to 44.9bn cubic
to diversify the country’s economy away 97.6bn kWh, the figures showed. meters.
from over-reliance on oil exports. For this Portland cement output registered a 8.1% In October, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev
purpose, Kazakh authorities are hoping to y/y increase to 10.3mn tonnes in the period. instructed officials to increase natural gas
attract private sector investments worth Petrol production rose 0.4% y/y to 4.1mn production and organise additional gas
around $2.1bn over the next five years. tonnes. supplies for the domestic market by the end
“I am sure that through joint efforts Flour output stood at 3mn tonnes, of the year.
we will achieve significant progress in marking a 2.8% annual rise compared to In addition, he ordered the production
increasing the investment attractiveness January-November 2019. of 740,000 tonnes of oil and condensates,
of the industry and the economies of our 203,000 tonnes of liquefied gas and 125,000
countries as a whole,” said Sergei Gorkov, tonnes of polyethylene.
director general and chairman of the board Uzbek citizens barely Russian oil and gas giant Lukoil in August
of RosGeo, according to a report posted on said it had suspended gas exports to China
the company’s website. coping with winter as from its projects in Uzbekistan due to weak
The agreement will facilitate Russia demand..
and Kazakhstan in exchanging knowledge country experiences gas
and expertise in hydrocarbon and mineral
exploration, regulation and the latest shortages
technologies.
The neighboring countries have also Experts calculate that Uzbekistan possesses
agreed to jointly develop non-bank financing a third of all mineral resources in Central
for geological exploration projects, including Asia and that in terms of gas production
exchange-traded instruments (ETIs) and the country is among the top world’s top 20,
“green” finance instruments. ranking 16th.

Week 50 16•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P19