According to the Ministry of Energy, Kazakhstan does not plan to supply its natural gas to Austria, as the European country may allegedly find itself in a situation with gas no longer coming from Russia. The ministry said this in response to Kursiv.media’s inquiry, highlighting that Kazakhstan is focused on its domestic market as local demand for natural gas rises.
According to Bloomberg, Austria «sees massive risk from a sudden stoppage of Russian natural gas flows.» These concerns arose after Ukraine seized control of a key gas transit facility inside Russia. Because of this, Austria is forced to look for other suppliers amidst surging prices and lower supply.
Even though Austria can theoretically appeal to Kazakhstan as an alternative gas supplier, the country has no intention of exporting gas to Vienna. According to the Ministry of Energy, when it comes to gas supply, Kazakhstani legislation puts top priority on domestic supplies, limiting the export to the remaining volume of gas. As internal consumption of gas is growing, the government has to use gas reserves to meet the needs of the citizens and local enterprises.
Furthermore, Kazakhstan simply has no technical capacity for exporting gas to Austria, which means that this won’t happen anytime soon, according to the Ministry of Energy.
Currently, Kazakhstan is exporting gas to China under an agreement signed in Beijing in October 2003. (The contract will last until 2026.) Additionally, in early June, QazaqGaz signed a long-term contract with Russia’s Gazprom to facilitate the transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan through Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan also facilitates the transit of Turkmenistani and Uzbekistani gas to China via its territory.
In 2023, Kazakhstan launched oil exports to Germany to substitute Russian oil that German authorities refused to buy. The first oil for Germany was sent by KazMunayGas from the Karachaganak oil field. In 2023, the country exported 993,000 tons of oil to Germany, while in 2024, this number is expected to increase to 1.2 million tons. In April 2024, Inpex North Caspian Sea, Japan’s Inpex subsidiary, exported 20,000 tons of oil from the Kashagan field. Agip Caspian Sea, Italy’s Eni subsidiary, has also exported oil to Germany since June 2024, when Kazakhstan exported 20,000 tons of oil. According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy, the country can proceed with these oil exports if these supplies prove to be economically viable.
