Kazakhstan, world’s top uranium producer cuts output target for next year, Draft budget of Kazakhstan for 2025-2027 includes oil price of $75 per barrel
From the recent news about Kazakhstan, the world’s leading uranium producer, reducing its production plan for next year, to discussions about opening new gas plants at the Kashagan and Karachaganak fields, and the discovery of Xianbei tombs in Kazakhstan, Kazinform News Agency provides a weekly review of Kazakhstan’s coverage in foreign media.
Bloomberg: World’s top uranium producer cuts output target for next year
Bloomberg reports that Kazakhstan, the world’s leading uranium producer, has reduced its production plan for next year due to project delays and a shortage of sulfuric acid, which is essential for extracting the radioactive metal from the ground.
Kazakhstan adjusted 2025 uranium production plans to 25,000 tons to 26,500 tons from “initial intentions” of 30,500 to 31,500 tons, state-run Kazatomprom said Friday in regulatory filings.
The new 2025 plan implies about 12% growth compared with 2024 guidance of 22,500 tons to 23,500 tons, the company said.
Uranium prices have more than tripled over the past four years in anticipation of a surge in demand for the nuclear fuel. The US, Japan and France were among 22 nations that pledged late last year to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050.
“Delays in ramping up output at JV Budenovskoye LLP account for a significant portion of Kazakhstan’s adjusted production. That operation is now expected to produce 1,300 tons of uranium next year instead of the previously approved 4,000 tons,” Kazatomprom said.
Kazatomprom’s stockpiles decreased by 20% to 6,132 tons in the first half of the year, but the company maintains a sufficient inventory to meet its contractual obligations through 2025.
The company stated that production and mine development plans for 2026 and beyond will be disclosed only when the interim results for 2025 are released.
Azernews: Draft budget of Kazakhstan for 2025-2027 includes oil price of $75 per barrel
The Government of Kazakhstan has budgeted for 2025-2029 the price of oil at $75 per barrel, Azernews reports.
Speaking at a government meeting, deputy prime minister and minister of national economy Nurlan Baibazarov noted that, depending on changes in external parameters, three scenarios for the development of the economic situation have been formed.
“The baseline scenario suggests an average oil price of $75 per barrel,” he said.
Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers of Kazakhstan set the oil price at $80 per barrel when forming the republican budget for 2024-2026. Baibazarov also announced the country’s plans to further increase oil production.
“The volume of oil production will increase from 97.2 million tons in 2025 to 104.8 million tons in 2029,” he said.
In 2023, 90 million tons of oil was produced in Kazakhstan, and 90.3 million tons are planned to be produced in 2024. In the first half of 2024, 44.7 million tons were produced in the country.
The Times of Central Asia: Kazakhstan officially backs nuclear power referendum
The Times of Central Asia reports that the government of Kazakhstan has approved a draft resolution to hold a national referendum on constructing a nuclear power plant (NPP). The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, discussed the prospects for developing nuclear energy in the country.
Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev noted that the referendum will allow Kazakhstanis to make an important decision about the future of the country’s energy security.
Bektenov emphasized that Kazakhstan has mastered almost the entire cycle of nuclear fuel production and has experience with small reactors. However, the current shortage of energy capacity requires new solutions to avoid purchasing electricity from abroad. With the global abandonment of coal-fired power plants and the limited potential of renewable energy sources, the development of nuclear power is the most promising direction.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 415 nuclear power units operate worldwide, and 61 new units are under construction in 15 countries, including China and the UK. With its significant uranium resource base, Kazakhstan can ensure stable electricity tariffs and independence from raw material price fluctuations.
Modern NPPs have a multi-level safety system that meets IAEA international standards. According to Bektenov, nuclear power should become the basis for Kazakhstan’s energy-intensive economy, stimulating innovation and industry development.
The draft resolution was unanimously supported, directing the Ministry of Energy and the Government Office to submit a decree to the Presidential Administration.
Oil & Gas Journal: Kazakhstan, Shell discuss new gas plants for Kashagan, Karachaganak fields
According to Oil & Gas Journal Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy (MOE) and Shell PLC are weighing further development opportunities for the country’s offshore Kashagan and onshore Karachaganak fields, including construction of two new plants for processing natural gas volumes produced at the fields.
In a meeting on Aug. 26, Almasadam Satkaliyev, Kazakhstan’s minister of energy, met with division heads of Shell’s conventional oil and gas business and the operator’s Kazakhstan in-country operations to discuss advancing plans for a 2.5-billion cu m/year gas plant for Kashagan field and a 4.5-billion cu m/year plant for Karashiganak field, the MOE said in a release.
The discussions came as part of the parties’ broader hopes to expand their existing strategic partnerships within the country, as well as strengthening future cooperation on joint exploration of other geological projects in the region, Satkaliyev said.
Shell, through its subsidiary Shell Kazakhstan Development BV, holds a 16.81% stake in the North Caspian Sea PSA Consortium (NCPSA), which includes the Kashagan field located in shallow waters about 75-80 km southeast of Atyrau. The Kashagan field is operated by North Caspian Operating Co. BV on behalf of NCPSA partners, including Shell, Kazakhstan’s state-owned KMG (16.88%), Eni, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies (each 16.81%), CNPC (8.33%), and Inpex (7.56%).
Onshore, Shell's affiliate BG Karachaganak Ltd. and Eni each hold a 29.25% stake in Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV (KPO), the operator of the Karachaganak oil and gas field in northwest Kazakhstan. Shell and Eni jointly operate this field with partners Chevron (18%), Lukoil (13.5%), and KMG (10%).
KMG’s 2023 report outlines plans for a new Kashagan gas plant as part of the field’s second-phase (2A) expansion, aiming to boost oil production from 408,000 b/d to 500,000 b/d within 10 years. The gas plant, currently in the FEED phase, is expected to start up in 2029-30, with an estimated construction cost of $3.2 billion. A proposed Karachaganak gas plant, estimated at $3.2 billion, is scheduled for commissioning by 2028, pending approval.
Heritage Daily: Xianbei tombs discovered in Kazakhstan
Heritage Daily reports that archaeologists from the Margulan Institute of Archaeology, a department of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, have discovered 13 pit tombs in the East Kazakhstan region.
The Xianbei were an ancient nomadic people who inhabited the eastern Eurasian steppes in what are now parts of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China.
According to the Book of the Later Han, the Xianbei were a splinter group of the Donghu “Eastern Barbarians”, who joined the Wuhuan and Xiongnu in raiding Han territory.
The Xianbei’s economy was primarily based on animal husbandry and supplemented by agricultural activities. They were pioneers in establishing the khanate system, which led to the deepening of social class divisions and advancements in literacy, arts, and culture.
During the 2024 field season, archaeologists from the Margulan Institute of Archaeology have discovered 13 Xianbei tombs in the Tautekeli area of the Katon-Karagay district of Kazakhstan.
The tombs date from the early 1st millennium AD and consist of stone enclosures with a central burial pit. Each pit measures around 1 metre in depth and contains a single adult burial, some of which are covered with the skeletal remains of a horse.
Archaeologists also found funerary offerings consisting of ceramic fragments, cowrie shells, and beads made of semi-precious stones.
According to the Margulan Institute of Archaeology, “the Xianbei played a key role in the formation and development of ethnocultural processes in Central Asia after the fall of the Hunnic Empire. Their influence was reflected in various aspects of the cultural and political development of the region’s nomadic communities, including the formation of new state formations, the development of military traditions, and social and economic structures,” the statement concluded.
Photo: nucnet.org.
