Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Magzum Mirzagaliyev said that the country’s government has no opportunity to reduce prices for liquefied gas, thereby meeting the demands of the protesters in Zhanaozen. His words lead Interfax…
He noted that the Cabinet does not see such an opportunity today, referring to the cost of production and the laws of the market, which “has not been canceled.”
“The same Zhanaozen gas processing plant employs the same citizens, the same residents of this city. And when the cost of gas production is 100 tenge, and this is more than the desired 50-60, then we have two options: we will either sit in a constant deficit and our factories will simply stop at some point, or they will be accepted like this, maybe not very popular measures, ”Mirzagaliyev specified, referring to the increase in prices.
According to him, the prices for liquefied gas in Kazakhstan are still the lowest in the region, while not stimulating the growth of its production. Frequent repairs of worn-out factories also lead to a decrease. The minister stressed that under the current conditions there is no investment attractiveness for expanding gas production.
On January 2, protests began in Zhanaozen over a sharp rise in prices for liquefied gas. Citizens-motorists were outraged by the increase in the cost of liquefied gas to 120 tenge (20.56 Russian rubles) per liter, they demand from the authorities to cut the price by half. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the government of the republic “to urgently consider the situation in Zhanaozen, taking into account economic feasibility, in the legal field.”
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