BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 15. The amount of investment in subsoil use amounted to 7.7 trillion Kazakh tenge ($17.22 billion) in 2022, Askhat Khassenov, Vice Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan, said, Trend reports, citing the press service of the Ministry.
Some 2.8 trillion Kazakh tenge ($6.26 billion) was invested in extraction, 135.7 billion Kazakh tenge ($303.58 million) in geological surveys, while the remaining 4.7 trillion Kazakh tenge ($10.51 billion) was invested in research and development, capital expenditures, as well as regional social and economic development.
Khassenov also highlighted the increasing number of subsoil territories rights auctioned off via the government platform, which aims to increase transparency and accountability.
The contracts for providing exploration and extraction rights on 38 subsoil areas have been signed as a result of the two auctions held in 2022. The signing bonus for these contracts amounted to 26 billion Kazakh tenge ($58.16 million), which is almost a twofold increase from 12.8 billion Kazakh tenge ($28.63 million) compared to the combined results recorded from the start of 2020 through the end of 2021.
Askhat Khassenov summarized these points during the briefing of the Energy Ministry held at the Central Communications Service under the President.