ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 5. Consumption of liquefied petroleum gas on the domestic market of Kazakhstan amounted to 2.2 million tons in 2023, which is 28 percent more than in 2022, said the Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Almassadam Satkaliyev during a meeting of the board, Trend reports.
"In 2023, consumption in the domestic market of liquefied petroleum gas increased by 400,000 tons (or 28 percent) compared to 2022 and amounted to 2.2 million tons," he said.
The minister noted that, today, the established maximum wholesale price for LPG is lower than the cost of its production.
"The cost of LPG production varies from 60,000 to 70,000 tenge per ton. The approved maximum wholesale price for manufacturing plants is 40,320 tenge per ton, excluding VAT. Due to the unprofitability of liquefied petroleum gas production, the industry suffers losses, regular repair work is not carried out, and funds are not invested in modernization," Satkaliyev said.
He pointed out that Kazakhstan has one of the lowest prices for LPG: 54–86 tenge (about $0.12–$0.19), depending on the region.
Thus, according to the minister, in order to uninterruptedly meet the internal needs of the country's population, an agreement was signed between the Ministry and Tengizchevroil LLP on the monthly supply of 20,000 tons of LPG. In addition, QazaqGaz JSC and the shareholders of the North Caspian project are working on the issue of signing a purchase and sale agreement for the Kashagan LPG in a volume of up to 700,000 tons per year until the end of this year.
At the same time, the minister said that LPG prices in the country will rise. "This year, we are going to make a small increase of 5-8 tenge, depending on the region. We plan for this to happen in the spring of this year," Satkaliyev said.
