ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan plans to produce 77 million tons of oil in 2016 compared to 79.460 million tons last year, Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported with reference to the country’s Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik.
In his words, the planned decrease in oil output is due to depletion of the country’s oil fields.
The minister said that this year Kazakhstan plans to start oil production at its giant Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea and it will help increase the country’s oil output starting from the next year.
It is planned to resume oil production at Kashagan at the end of 2016.
According to the minister, the Kashagan project will initially produce 7 million tons of oil per year, in a year it will increase production up to 11 million tons, and later to 13 million tons.
“We expect a slight decrease in oil production this year, we plan it and we are prepared for it. We will reverse the decrease next year and oil production will grow then,” Shkolnik said.
The Statistics Committee of the Ministry of National Economy earlier said that between January and December 2015, Kazakhstan produced 66.518 million tons of oil, a 2-percent decrease compared with the same period in 2014.
Production of gas condensate amounted to 12.935 million tons, a 0.1 percent growth on-year.
During that period, Kazakhstan produced 21.635 billion cubic meters of natural gas (a 1.7-percent growth) and 23.827 billion cubic meters of associated petroleum gas (a 8.8-percent growth).
