ASTANA, Kazakhstan, July 2. Kazakhstan and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will sign a strategic cooperation agreement, said the Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan, Almassadam Satkaliyev, Trend reports.
"The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan plans to sign a framework agreement with CNPC on strategic cooperation in the field of energy. We are talking about a whole range of activities related to the exploration of promising fields, the increase and extension of existing contracts, as well as the implementation of large oil and gas projects in the oil and gas industry of the republic," he said.
According to the minister, the expansion of the Shymkent oil refinery, the expansion of the capacity of the existing main infrastructure, the construction of new oil and gas pipelines, and the development of petrochemicals are discussed.
Furthermore, Kazakhstan produced 90 million tons of oil in 2023, which is 6.9 percent higher than in 2022. Oil exports also increased and amounted to 70.5 million tons, which is 9.6 percent more than the previous year. Moreover, Kazakhstan plans to increase oil production in 2024 to 90.3 million tons.
In 2023, gas production in Kazakhstan amounted to 59.063 billion cubic meters, including large fields such as Tengiz (16.009 billion cubic meters), Karachaganak (22.385 billion cubic meters), Kashagan (11.856 billion cubic meters), and others (8.813 billion cubic meters). Kazakhstan is projected to produce 60.456 billion cubic meters of raw natural gas in 2024.
Meanwhile, the volume of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China amounted to $6.27 billion from January through March 2024. This volume increased by 6.3 percent compared to the same period in 2023 ($5.9 billion).
At the same time, exports to China for the above period amounted to $3.18 billion, while imports from China amounted to $3.09 billion.