ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan needs to increase the export of its coal to the Chinese market, First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin said during the Government meeting on January 24, which discussed the development of the country’s coal and chemical industry, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
Mamin said that it is necessary to take into account the current trends in the industry, including the markets of neighboring countries.
Kazakhstan needs to look for new markets and new logistics solutions, Mamin said.
Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev told the meeting that with the transition of Kazakhstan to the “green” economy, there is an urgent need for the development of coal chemistry, which can provide a qualitative change in the consumer properties of the product and thus increase its market price, and most importantly, would allow going beyond the thermal coal market.
According to the Minister, a comprehensive project for the extraction of methane from coal seams is currently being developed in the Karaganda coal basin.
The Energy Ministry has the task to extract coalbed methane for industrial development, which will greatly improve the socio-economic situation in some regions of the country, since methane can be used to produce electricity for domestic purposes, as a fuel for motor vehicles, in metallurgy and chemical industries. Significant work will increase safety for the subsequent extraction of coal and the environmental benefits due to the reduction of methane emissions into the environment, the minister said.
According to the Energy Ministry, in 2016 Kazakhstan produced 98 million tons of coal and exported 26 million tons.
