According to the Interfax news agency on Monday, a senior executive from the state gas company QazaqGaz stated that Kazakhstan intends to cease its natural gas exports next winter to ensure its domestic market is adequately supplied, Reuters reported.
The deputy chief executive of QazaqGaz, Arman Kasenov, conveyed at a meeting that discontinuing exports is the sole method to prevent a domestic shortage, as reported by Interfax. Kazakhstan, which is the largest oil producer in Central Asia, exports natural gas to China and Russia.
It reduced its exports to 4.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the previous year from 7.2 bcm, also citing a rise in domestic consumption.
Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, is scheduled to switch from coal to natural gas for its power and heating needs this year.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister, Bolat Akchulako, announced on Wednesday that the country may transport its first shipment of 20,000 tons of oil to Germany via Russia’s Druzhba pipeline by the end of this month.
Kazakhstan intends to export up to 6 million tons of oil annually through Russia’s territory as part of its initiative to substitute Russian crude, which the European Union vowed to stop purchasing due to wider sanctions brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Akchulakov stated earlier that Kazakhstan plans to export 1.5 million tonnes of oil to Germany in 2023 and may increase exports to 7 million tonnes in the future.
The Kazakh oil supplies will be transported towards the oil delivery point, Adamova Zastava, before being transited to Germany. Moscow has authorized Kazakhstan to transport its oil to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline.
