Page 8 - FSUOGM Week 41 2019

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM
Kazakhstan wraps up work
on $700mn pipe to provide
capital with gas
Kazakhstan’s largest infrastructure project since independence was completed within a year
KAZAKHSTAN
WHAT:
Kazakhstan has completed construction of the 1,060-km Saryarka pipeline.
WHY:
The pipeline will provide large volumes of gas to the capital Nur-Sultan for the first time.
WHAT NEXT:
Kazakhstan’s other challenge is to meet its contractual supply to China.
KAZAKHSTAN has finished a cross-country $700mn pipeline to bring natural gas to its capi- tal Nur-Sultan, national oil and gas firm KazMu- nayGas (KMG) has announced.
Nur-Sultan, formerly known as Astana, gen- erates much of its heating and electricity from aged coal-fired power plants, resulting in heavy smog enveloping the city. To tackle the problem, the government began drawing up a plan six years ago to convert the city to cleaner natural gas instead. This involved the construction of a pipeline stretching for more than 1,060 km from the country’s south to Nur-Sultan, in the north.
The Saryarka project, as it is known, suf- fered delays after Kazakhstan slashed spend- ing in response to the 2014 oil price crash. A ground-breaking ceremony was finally held in last December, but work did not get underway in earnest until funding was secured from the Russia-led Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and others earlier this year.
A ceremony to mark the welding of the
pipeline’s final joint was held outside the capi- tal on October 9, attended by Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev, representatives of KMG and local officials. The akim of Nur-Sultan, Akhmetzhan Yesimov, noted that Saryarka would ensure uninterrupted gas supply in cen- tral and northern Kazakhstan, improving their air quality.
“This is the largest infrastructure project since independence and it was completed in less than a year,” he said.
Saryarka connects with Kazakhstan’s devel- oped gas infrastructure in the south near Kyzylorda, and passes through Zhezkazgan, Karaganda and Temirtau before reaching Nur-Sultan. It can flow up to 2.2bn cubic metres of gas per year, sourced from large fields in the west of the country.
The project’s total cost has been estimated at KZT267bn ($684mn). Managing construction was KazStroyService, a private contractor linked to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s
P8
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 41 16•October•2019