Kazakhstan, Astana, Sept. 17 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
The period of easily extracted oil is under completion in Kazakhstan, Kazakh Oil and Gas Minister Uzakbai Karabalin said at a government meeting in Astana today.
"The period of easily extracted oil near completion in Kazakhstan," he said while presenting the 'Concept of the effective management of natural resources and the use of proceeds from the raw material sector' project to the government. "Today, the search and development of deposits are associated with the complexity of several conditions and a high level of varied expenses."
"Moreover, the rise in the world oil prices is among the objective factors affecting the industry," the minister said.
"The world oil prices are generally exposed to growth," he added. "They have increased more than three-fold for the past 10 years and two-fold since the global recession of 2008. These processes also affect the cost of petroleum products and petrochemicals."
At the same time describing the current state of the oil and gas industry in the country, he noted a number of advantages.
"In particular, Kazakhstan is among the top 10 countries in the world in reserves that allows us to produce oil for at least another 50 years. There are also significant prospects of finding new reserves," the Minister said.
Another advantage of the industry is the ability to fully provide its own resources with all three Kazakh oil refineries and therefore the domestic oil product market.
"New domestic petrochemical production has not shown its capacity yet," he stressed.
Karabalin also listed a number of issues that weaken the position of the Kazakhstan sector. Among them is the high cost and specificity of Kazakh oil, high transport component and the urgent need to intensify work on the replenishment of raw materials, as well as the high attractiveness of oil exports.