ASTANA, October 11. /TASS/. Kazakhstan has the technical capability to receive deliveries from Russian gas supplies that are in transit from Russia to Uzbekistan, Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev told TASS.

"As a matter of principle, the entire package of agreements encompasses in particular the opportunity to deliver gas to Kazakhstan as well, depending on our gas consumption plans in the forthcoming period. The technical opportunity exists; now Kazakhstan will decide on the feasibility of using the gas volume provided, depending on the forecast balance," Satkaliyev said.

The minister also discussed the options for utilizing such gas supplies. "It depends on the forecast gas consumption balance. The main gas consumers in Kazakhstan are electrical power plants, the manufacturing sector, and a fairly large volume of utilities," he noted.

On October 7, the presidents of Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan jointly launched the start of Russian gas transit to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan through the Middle Asia-Center trunk gas pipeline.