BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. When building infrastructure to supply gas to the north of Kazakhstan, it is more profitable to import natural gas from Russia than to construct a gas pipeline from the west of the country, Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Aqchulaqov said, Trend reports citing Kazakh media.
He noted that in order for Kazakhstan to be able to provide itself with natural gas, stable additional volumes of natural gas are needed.
“The volume of natural gas is decreasing in the country. And if new deposits are not explored, then the volume of gas will be below the required volume,” he said.
Thus, he noted, it is easier to import Russian gas and at the same time develop the needed infrastructure, because the distance from the West Kazakhstan region to Petropavl (in the north of Kazakhstan) is more than 2,000 km.
“Whereas the distance from Russia to Petropavl is 500-600 km. This difference is huge in terms of cost,” the minister explained.