Published: April 4, 2018 |

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Construction of a pipeline that will bring natural gas to Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana is slated to start in July, according to a senior energy official. Astana, located in the north of the country, currently has only limited access to gas, relying mostly on coal to meet its rising electricity and heating needs. Authorities began discussing plans to build the Saryarka pipeline, which will connect the city with Kazakhstan’s southern gas network, in 2013. But its development was delayed, partly because of Kazakhstan’s economic crisis, caused by the slump in oil prices in late 2014.

With the Kazakh economy now seeing a modest recovery, the government has turned its attention to the project once again. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered Parliament earlier this month to ensure that construction begin as soon as possible.

Mr. Ziyash Kiyakbayev, who oversees gas sector developments at the Kazakh energy ministry, said that “It is planned to solve financing issues by June and to hold a ceremony for the welding of the first joint of the main gas pipeline in early July of this year.”

Under the project’s first stage, a 1,081-km, 3 bcm per year pipeline will be built from the southern city of Kyzlorda, passing by Zhezkazgan and Karaganda before reaching Astana, at an estimated cost of 267.3 billion tenge (US$83 million). The pipeline will then be extended further north to Kokshetau and then Petropavlovsk, under second and third development stages. The fourth and final stage involves the construction of compressor stations in Zhezkazgan and Temirtau, near Karaganda.

Authorities also plan to convert two thermal power plants (TPPs) in Astana to run on gas instead of coal feedstock.

Kazakhstan’s national gas pipeline operator, KazTransGas (KTG), has been tasked with overseeing the project’s realization. According to officials, a working group of various government bodies has been set up to resolve issues relating to the first stage of the pipeline’s development

Source: Steel Guru

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