Astana, Kazakhstan, May 27
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:
Kazakhstan intends to seek new sales markets for its coal, the country's Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Industry and New Technologies, Asset Issekeshev said on May 27.
He made the remarks while presenting a new concept for development of Kazakhstan's fuel and energy complex at a press conference in Astana.
"The volume of coal production was 112 million tonnes in 2013, and we intend to maintain the production volume at the level of 100-120 million tonnes per year till 2030, as coal will be the main resource for our plants till that time," the deputy minister said.
He underscored that the export to Russia that was equal to 30 million tonnes, has begun to drop and the country needs to seek new markets such as Europe, China and others, to export its coal.
The Russian-Kazak joint venture Bogatyr-komir LLP sees a decline in its production due to the decrease of demand of Russia's coal consumers, who have switched to gas and the coal produced at their own fields, according to the data of the Pavlodar province's regional executive body.
Issekeshev went on to add that a promising sphere such as the coal chemistry (deep coal processing) will be developed in Kazakhstan.
"We will cooperate with Chinese companies in this sphere. It is necessary for compensating the decline in the coal supply," the deputy minister said.