Kazakhstan, Astana, March 20 / Trend, K. Konyrova /
The Geology Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and New Technologies is negotiating the opening of a laboratory engaged in extracting methane from coal using certain samples of bacteria, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Isekeshev said in an exclusive interview with Trend on Tuesday.
"We are currently negotiating the equipment supply with a foreign company to create the laboratory and train our specialists who will research the industrial use of bacteria in methane extraction from coal horizons," he said.
He added that the cost of such production, including all costs associated with the development of the field will hit $60.5.
"Many world companies, including Shell and BP today started to actively examine ways of obtaining non-traditional kinds of gas by using the samples of different bacteria," he said. "This is connected with the fact that the conventional gas reserves are exhausted."
According to specialists, economic growth rates will double and the growth in electricity consumption will increase by 40 percent. Today, unconventional gas hit 56 percent of the total volume, 8 percent coal methane, 23 percent shale gas and 26 percent dense gas in the U.S.
"Kazakhstan has large coal deposits," he said. "There are prospects for field development to get non-traditional kinds of gas. The Geology Committee and Kazgeology under the ministry are examining this issue."
Moreover, he believes that the country can attract good investments for developing the fields of non-traditional kinds of gas.