"We will have to think about raising gas prices" – Minister of Energy

Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bolat Akchulakov said that it is time to think about raising gas prices, Kazpravda.kz correspondent reports.

"The system of covering and holding domestic prices was an export issue. That is, due to higher export earnings, it was possible to maintain a low level of prices (for gas - author's note) within the country. But due to the fact that domestic consumption is growing and gas production is not increasing, we have to reduce exports, and we expect that there will be no exports at all after 2024. Accordingly, we will not have a source to stimulate low prices within Kazakhstan. So we need to think about the need to raise the price," the minister said.

According to him, in this regard, it is advisable to divide consumers into groups.

"The first is the population and socially vulnerable groups. But there are consumer groups that can and should pay the real cost of gas - these are enterprises that are completely focused on exports and foreign exchange earnings. Miners can also pay a good price for gas, as well as enterprises communal or socially oriented, they should probably be separated into another group," the minister added.

Akchulakov noted that now his department is conducting appropriate calculations.

“We are now conducting all these calculations. 60% is an average figure, perhaps for industrial enterprises there will be a growth of two times. For the population there will be a different price, this must be segmented and based on what we have. For the population, I don’t think that it will grow significantly (the price of gas - author's note). We are only developing this concept, we were instructed to think about everything during 180 days, and these 180 days have not yet expired. We still have time to think," the speaker concluded.