Left to right: Gazprom head Alexey Miller, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Kazakhstan Noursultan Nazarbaev
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Gazprom Will Pay $160 for Kazakh Gas
Gazprom will sign an agreement with Kazmunaigaz next week that will enable the companies to begin work on a joint enterprise at the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant. After almost a year's delay, the companies reached an agreement on two key issues – the purchase price of natural gas from Karachaganak Petroleum Operating consortium ($33 per 1000 cu. m.) and the export price of the gas ($160 per 1000 cu. m.). That is the highest purchase price in Russia for Central Asian gas. Another joint enterprise with a Russian presence, Kazrosgaz, will then export the gas.
Kazakh Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told the Kazakh parliament yesterday that the price of the gas they had been selling for $145 since January had been raised to $160. He said the gas would then be sold for an even higher rate in the CIS, Baltic countries and Western Europe and that the construction of gas processing plants in Kazakhstan was under consideration.
Gazprom initiated the discussion of the joint enterprise in the mid-1990s because of the need to make up for falling production at the Orenburg natural gas deposit. Kazakhstan had little interest in the proposal until 2003, however. In 2005, the countries' presidents supported the reaching of an agreement. In the autumn of 2006, Gazprom and Kazmunaigaz signed a protocol on reconstructing the Orenburg plant to double its capacity to 15 billion cu. m. per year. The price for that work remained disputed until recently, however. Last Friday, while visiting Kazakhstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that all questions about the project had been settled.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 15, 2007
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