ASTANA, Kazakhstan, October 23. Subsoil use contracts have been concluded in Kazakhstan for complex projects with expected investments of over $8 billion in 2023, said Vice Minister of Energy Askhat Khasenov at the first Technical Seminar on geological exploration in the field of hydrocarbons between Kazakhstan and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Urumqi (China), Trend reports.
As he noted, within the framework of these contracts, it is expected that about 4,000 jobs will be created during the development of the fields.
Khasenov said that a number of legislative acts were adopted in 2022 - an Improved Model Contract was introduced, the procedure for granting subsoil use rights through an auction was simplified, and the concept of "unconventional hydrocarbon deposits" was introduced.
He noted thatб thanks to the adopted reforms in the country, in the first half of 2023, the costs of subsoil users for geological exploration amounted to 187 billion tenge (about $390 million), which is 37.8 percent more than in 2022.
"Currently, work is underway to adopt amendments aimed at increasing the investment attractiveness of hydrocarbon exploration and reducing financial and administrative costs for subsoil users," he said.
At the seminar, the Kazakhstan's side was also represented by Samruk-Kazyna JSC, national companies in the field of hydrocarbons - KazMunayGas JSC and QazaqGaz JSC, etc.
