Energy in Kazakhstan

In 2018 about half of energy was from coal and about a quarter each from oil and natural gas. Kazakhstan started looking for ways to use its renewable energy sources. In 2015, an action plan was adopted on the development of renewable energy for the period of 2013 to 2020. Oil Kazakhstan has estimated 30 billion barrels of oil reserves. With 172 oilfields, Kazakhstan possesses 3% of global oil reserves, putting it among the world's top 15 countries in terms of oil reserves. The main reserves are in five largest onshore oil fields of Tengiz – the largest oil producing field with 565,000 barrels per day of crude in 2011 - Karachaganak, Aktobe, Mangistau, and Uzen, all of which are located in the western part of the country. These hold half of current proven reserves. The offshore fields of Kashagan and Kurmanagazy in the Caspian Sea are estimated to hold minimum 14 million barrels. With 9 – 11 billion barrels, Kashagan is the largest oil field outside of the Middle East. It is estimated to come on stream in 2016 and reach production of 1.5 million barrels per day at its peak. Kazakhstan is a major oil producer with an estimated total production of 1.64 million barrels per day in 2013. The country consumes around 13 percent of the supply domestically and exports the rest to major oil markets. To continue expanding the liquids production above its current levels, the country needs to develop its Tengiz, Karachaganak, and Kashagan fields as well as add export capacity. KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil and gas company, was created in 2002 to represent the interests of the state in the oil and gas industry. The oil production development has been made possible largely due to significant foreign investment, primarily from the Netherlands and the US in the early 2000s. In 2010, the Kazakh government took away KMG's responsibility to regulate the sector to enable the company's higher level of involvement in the commercial sector. The government now reserves a majority stake for KMG in all new projects and joint ventures. KMG now controls 20 percent of total oil and gas proved reserves of Kazakhstan and produces 27 percent of total oil and gas condensate and 14 percent of gas. Kazakhstan has three major refineries - Atyrau, Shymkent and Pavlodar. Their combined crude refining capacity amounts to around 350,000 barrels per day, roughly evenly split amongst the three. Due to aged infrastructure, they mostly operate only at 60 percent of their capacity. The government has made significant investment in the modernization of these units to be completed around 2016. Kazakhstan decreased its oil production by 4.3% as part of the agreements reached with the OPEC +. OPEC+, which also includes non-OPEC allies, including Kazakhstan and Russia, agreed in April to a record global oil cut of 9.7 million barrels per day from May 1. In November 2020, the Kazakh Government confirmed that the country fulfilled the OPEC+ obligations by 99%. In 2018, this would make Kazakhstan twelfth in the amount of total proven oil reserves globally. When discovered in the 1990s, the Kashagan oil field was the second largest oil field in the world. In 2000s, the oil production has increased rapidly due to foreign investment and improvements in production efficiencies. In 2006, Kazakhstan produced 54 million tons of crude oil and 10.5 million tons of gas condensate , which makes Kazakhstan eighteenth-largest oil producer in the world. The main production sites are the Tengiz field , located on the northeast shores of the Caspian, and the Karachaganak field , located inland near to Russian border. In future Kazakh oil production will also rely on the Kashagan field, the largest oil field outside the Middle East, which possess anywhere from to in recoverable reserves, and the Kurmangazy field in Northern Kazakhstan. 76% of Kazakhstan's oil and gas production and remaining reserves are concentrated in these three oil fields, as well as the Uzen Field. 14% of reserves and production are located in 6 further fields. The leading oil industry is state-owned oil company KazMunayGas. The landmark foreign investment in Kazakh oil industry is the TengizChevroil joint venture, owned 50% by ChevronTexaco, 25% by ExxonMobil, 20% by the Government of Kazakhstan, and 5% by Lukarco of Russia. The Karachaganak natural gas and gas condensate field is being developed by BG, Agip, ChevronTexaco, and Lukoil. Also Chinese, Indian and Korean oil companies are involved in the Kazakhstan's oil industry. Kazakhstan has three oil refineries: in Pavlodar, in Atyrau, Recent developments The Kazakhstan 2022 review by the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that overreliance on oil routes poses short-term risks amid regional instability and sanctions against Russia. Export disruptions in recent years highlighted the need for diversifying oil transit options to ensure economic stability. In April 2025, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Chevron CEO Michael Wirth to mark the completion of the Tengiz field expansion. They discussed deepening long-term cooperation, boosting local participation, and advancing projects like a 4.5 bcm/year gas processing plant at Karachaganak and a major polyethylene complex. These efforts aim to increase domestic value-added production and reduce dependency on crude exports alone. The IEA also emphasized pricing reforms in Kazakhstan’s gas sector, where regulated low prices discourage producers from selling domestically. Instead, gas is often re-injected to boost oil output for export. Pricing reform could support diversification and reduce coal reliance. Natural Gas Kazakhstan's proven reserves of natural gas are 85 trillion cubic feet. (2013). Majority of natural gas reserves are located in the west of Kazakhstan and concentrated in four fields – Karachanganak (46 percent), Tengiz (12 percent), Imashevskoye (7 percent) and Kashagan (12 percent). Between 2000 and 2012 the natural gas production increased four times to 40.1 billion cubic meters in 2012. However, only 53 percent of this gas was for commercial purposes; the rest was re-injected into oil fields to enhance production. Kazakhstan's gas production suffices to meet domestic demand of 10.5 billion cubic meters (2012). However, due to limited internal gas pipeline network that does not connect all the production centers (west) with demand centers (south, east, north), the country needs to import gas from Uzbekistan to satisfy the demand in the south of the country and from Russia to satisfy demand in the north and east. In 2012, the country exported 8.8 billion cubic meters of gas to China through the Central Asia – China pipeline. Kazakhstan serves as a major transit country for gas exports from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan that are destined to Russia and China. In 2012, the amount of gas transited through Kazakhstan was 96.5 billion cubic meters. However, Kazakhstan became a net gas exporter only in 2003. In 2007, Kazakhstan produced 29 bcm of natural gas and plans to increase its gas output to 60-80 bcm a year by 2015. Kazakhstan's major gas company is KazMunaiGaS JSC that has a reported annual income of about $3 billion in 2013. Coal Kazakhstan sits on Central Asia's largest recoverable coal reserves. At 33.6 billion tonnes the reserves represent 3.8 percent of global total reserves. (2013). In 2013, the country produced 58.4 million tonnes. Coal production stands at 70 percent of what it was during the Soviet Union. The largest coal producer is Bogatyr Coal that operates the largest 4.5 billion tons open-pit coal mine in the world in Ekibastuz in the northeastern region of Kazakhstan. In 2012 Bogatyr Coal produced 46 million tons of coal. Majority of coal, 75 percent, is used for domestic consumption, power generation in particular. The largest importers of Kazakhstan's oil include the neighboring southern Russia and Ukraine. A major concern of the coal mines of Kazakhstan is safety and prevention and control of mine explosions. In 2009 Kazakhstan was 8. top coal producer: 96 million tonnes hard coal and 5 million tonnes brown coal. 22 Mt of hard coal was exported (2009). In 2009 Kazakhstan was world 8. top coal exporter. The top hard coal net exporters in 2009 were (Mt): Australia 262, Indonesia 230, Russia 93, Colombia 69, South Africa 67, United States 33, Vietnam 25, Kazakhstan 22, Canada 20 and Czech Republic 4. The coal of Kazakhstan has low energy value 0.444 toe/tonne compared to e.g. in this respect top coal of Australia 0.689 toe/tonne. Assuming both hard coal 96 Mt and brown coal 6 Mt having about the same energy value,: the coal production would have been about 101 Mt*0.444 toe/Mt*11.630 TWh/toe = 521 TWh in 2009 and export .22*0.444 toe/Mt*11.630 TWh/toe = 114 TWh. Although Kazakhstan is a substantial producer of oil and gas, coal has dominated both energy production and consumption. It contains Central Asia's largest recoverable coal reserves, with 34.5 billion short tons of mostly anthracitic and bituminous coal. Major coal fields are Bogatyr and Severny. In 2005, Kazakhstan was the 9th biggest producer of coal in the world, and the 10th global exporter. Russia is the largest importer of Kazakh coal, followed by Ukraine. The biggest coal production company is Bogatyr Access Komir, which accounts for approximately 35% of Kazakh coal output. ==Electricity==