Kazakhstan Increased Coal Mining

Kazakhstan increased coal mining in January through July compared to the same period last year, said Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan Beibut Atamkulov.

At the start of 2020, the ministry expected yearly coal mining to amount to 120 million tons, of which 38 million tons were planned for export. Based on the results of the first half-year of 2020, Kazakhstan mined 54.7 million tons of coal, with a 1.9% increase compared to the same period last year: in 2019, total coal mining in Kazakhstan was 111 million tons, with 28 million tons exported.

«Due to growth in consumption of coal products, the index of coal mining’s physical volume was 102.6% in January through July. During that period, coal mining companies extracted 62 million tons of coal which is 2.6% more than in the corresponding period last year,» noted Atamkulov at a government meeting.

However, the general index of physical volumes in the mining industry of Kazakhstan decreased by 0.4% due to the planned decrease in oil production. It’s linked with the need to fulfill agreements reached under the OPEC+ deal.

According to this year’s agreement, oil mining is to be reduced by 7.7 million barrels per day in July through December, and by 6 million barrels per day from January 2021 to April 2022. The biggest players, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have taken the largest commitments, and are to reduce daily production to 8.5 million barrels per day.

The remaining participants of the deal, including Kazakhstan, are to reduce their oil production by 23% compared to the level of October 2018. For Kazakhstan this means decreasing oil production by 11.7 million tons per year. Taking the obligations under the OPEC+ agreements into account, Kazakhstan plans to mine 85.2 million tons of oil this year.

«In seven months, oil production amounted to 51.5 million tons, 1.4% lower than in the same period last year,» said Minister of Energy Nurlan Nogayev at the same government meeting.

He pointed out that oil demand weakened due to introduction of quarantine measures in many countries worldwide; however, oil export from Kazakhstan grew by 0.4% and amounted to 42 million tons based on the results of January – July 2020.