ASTANA, October 9 (Itar-Tass) - Kazakhstan and Russia should coordinate their oil and gas policy amid changing global market structure, Energy and Infrastructure Minister of the Eurasian Economic Commission Danial Akhmetov said on the sidelines of the Eurasian Forum Kazenergy on Wednesday.
“In the short-term our countries’ integration strategy should be targeted at resolving such key tasks as the creation of a coordinated oil and gas policy in relation to third countries,” he said.
Akhmetov emphasized importance of raising effectiveness of hydrocarbon production, introducing new technologies, laying pipeline networks to Southeast Asia and China and improving quality of state and corporate management of oil and gas companies.
“One of our countries’ key short-term tasks will be the development of a joint energy strategy within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. This document allows us to look into the future with optimism, while the implementation of this strategy will raise competitiveness of our economies and the Eurasian Economic Union,” he said.
Cooperation in the oil and gas industry will define “the role and place of an integration structure being created by Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus on the global energy market,” Akhmetov said, naming alternative methods of oil and gas extraction as the main challenges in this sphere.
“According to experts, over the past five years the shale oil production has increased from 8 million tonnes in 2007 to 100 million tonnes in 2012 and shale gas production develops at the same pace,” he said. “The shale revolution drastically changed the global market structure. Researchers forecast that a new technology that will trigger development of China, Jordan and Mongolia’s deposits will emerge after 2020 and if this scenario is translated into reality, it will inevitably reduce production in traditional oil and gas exporting countries. And we realize what Russia and Kazakhstan will face in this case.”