The measures to implement the pre-election program of President Tokayev and the instructions given at the enlarged Government session of Dec. 12, 2022 were considered at the Government session of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Minister of Energy of the Bolat Akchulakov made a report on the implementation of the relevant measures.

Within the framework of the pre-election platform 8 instructions of the Ministry of Energy are being executed. By results of extended meeting of the Government 3 instructions announced by the Head of the State were accepted for execution. 

According to the Minister, the work with partners of major oil and gas projects on adoption of Comprehensive Development Plan to increase economic benefits of the country will be carried out.

By 2029, the Shymkent Refinery expansion project is planned to be completed up to 9 mln tonnes. This will allow for an increase in refining volumes to 21m tonnes per year.

"As part of the instruction to diversify export directions, a draft road map for the development of alternative routes for oil exports has been developed. Thus, the emphasis will be placed on the development of the Trans-Caspian international transport route in the direction of the ports of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, as well as on export directions to China and Iran," Akchulakov noted.  

The Head of State set a task to bring the volume of marketable gas production to 30 billion m3 by 2029. Two associated gas processing plants with a capacity of 1.1 billion m3 and 2 billion m3 will be implemented on the Kashagan field.

In addition, in 2023 a decision will be made to process Karachaganak gas at the ZhaikMunay gas processing plant, which will increase gas processing by 4 billion m3.

One of the important issues set by the Head of State is to provide gas to the population. The Ministry plans to increase gasification of the population to 65% by 2029, which will provide natural gas to 12 million people.

To strengthen energy security issues:

• 3.7 GW of power generation capacity will be commissioned by 2029, including: through modernisation of power plants 1.8 GW and construction of new combined cycle plants 1.9 GW
• by 2026, more than 50 RES facilities will be commissioned, so the renewable energy production will increase by 1.5 times and reach 7% of the total electricity production in the country.

By 2029 work will be carried out to modernise the National Electricity Network, including the connection of the electricity networks of West Kazakhstan to the Unified Electricity System.

The Ministry is working on a number of measures to solve the problems of the existing combined heat and power plants.

First, the programme "Tariff for Investment", which is being developed, will:

• attract up to 400 billion tenge annually to the sector;
• reduce the level of depreciation of generating capacities by 15% by 2035;
• provide counter commitments to market players.

Second, in 2023 the Law on Heat and Power will be adopted, which will allow to direct the focus on solving the problems of heat supply in the regions. Under it, the role of the Committee for Nuclear and Energy Supervision will be strengthened. The Law envisages a transition to a new target market model, which envisages centralised purchase and sale of electricity and the introduction of a real-time balancing market. 

Third, an audit of all cogeneration plants and power grids in the country will be completed in 1Q 2023, which will make it possible to identify problems and their current technical condition. Further, decisions will be taken on each critical infrastructure facility on the instructions of the Head of State.