A
delegation from the Republic of Kazakhstan headed by Kazakhstan’s Energy
Minister Bolat Akchulakov has taken part in Russian Energy Week’s business
programme. The head
of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy also spoke at the REW 2022 plenary session,
alongside Fatih Donmez, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the
Republic of Turkey; Parviz
Shahbazov, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Alexander Novak,
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation; and Alexey Miller, Chairman of
the Management Committee and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Gazprom.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin delivered a keynote address at the plenary session of
Russian Energy Week.
He spoke in particular about the incidents of sabotage at the Nord
Stream facilities, the energy crisis in EU countries and supplies of Russian
gas. He noted
that the capacity of the surviving Nord Stream-2 pipeline is 27.5 billion cubic metres
a year, or around eight percent of all gas imports in Europe.
Continuing
the theme of energy supplies, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister said, “Kazakhstan is
a producer of both oil and gas. Most of the oil we produce is exported. Any market turbulence therefore
affects Kazakhstan from the point of view of stable export issues.”
The
Kazakh Energy Minister had spoken about gas supplies previously. On the sidelines of
REW 2022, Bolat Akchulakov claimed that Kazakhstan was holding preliminary
talks with Gazprom with a view to increasing gas purchases, with volumes
potentially reaching up to 10 billion cubic metres. He said
that the specific volume of supply would depend on how quickly and widely
Kazakhstan’s gasification plans are implemented.
Previously,
Akchulakov had claimed that the country could be facing a gas shortage by 2025, given the growth
in energy usage by local residents. He noted that by 2021, Kazakhs were using 4.8 billion cubic metres more
gas than in 2017.
“25 May
2022 marked 30 years since diplomatic relations were established between Russia
and Kazakhstan. It is
gratifying that Kazakhstan is playing such an active role at many of Russia’s
key business platforms
– the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the Eastern Economic Forum and Russian Energy
Week. We have dozens
of joint events and projects in diverse areas of cooperation between our
countries planned for the near future. I am confident that the 2022–2024 plan for collaborative action between Russia and Kazakhstan will
be successfully implemented to the highest of standards,” noted Anton
Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation and Executive
Secretary of the REW 2022 Organizing Committee.
The
Russian Energy Week International Forum is taking place in Moscow on 12–14 October. Over 3,000
participants will be attending this fifth milestone Forum. Over the three days
of the Forum, the Manege will be visited by 16 foreign ministers
from Azerbaijan,
Algeria, Hungary, Venezuela, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Mali, Myanmar, Belarus,
Syria, Sierra Leone, Turkey and Sri Lanka, as well as around
50 heads of
diplomatic corps. High-ranking
officials from the Republic of Abkhazia and Uzbekistan will also be taking part.