On September 26, 2019, the XII KAZENERGY Eurasian Forum themed “Future of Energy Sources: Innovative Growth” was opened in the Congress center of Nur-Sultan: This event is the main international event of KAZAKHSTAN ENERGY WEEK 2019 (KEW) held this week in the Kazakh capital by KAZENERGY Association with the support of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The forum traditionally opened with a plenary session. Among its key speakers are Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, Chairman of the Management Board of NWF Samruk-Kazyna JSC Akhmetzhan Yessimov, President of Iceland (1996-2016) Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.
The main issues raised during the plenary session were the transition to sustainable energy in the context of global market changes, the growing demand for energy around the world, mainly due to traditional sources of raw materials – oil and gas, the development of existing and search for new sources of energy, as well as opportunities for their stable supply to consumers.
Speaking at the opening of the Forum, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin said that currently all participants of the world energy market need to unite global efforts to overcome the existing challenges. “Kazakhstan should maintain stability and predictability of the energy market and the global economy in view of the risks of future recessions,” he said. “KAZENERGY Association today gives us an excellent opportunity to contribute to a constructive dialogue and gathered here the best representatives of the industry and the international community.” The head of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan stressed that, thanks to the stability and predictability of energy supplies, Kazakhstan is becoming a regional leader.
According to A. Mamin, today, Kazakhstan is annually increasing its production of oil and gas. “Our production has become a major factor for the further development of the petrochemical, oil refining industry,” he said. Also, the Prime Minister noted that the capacity of domestic refineries has increased significantly, which allowed to fully cover the domestic needs for high-quality oil products.
At the same time, A. Mamin added that major shocks of the financial and economic markets force Kazakhstan to pay attention to renewable energy sources and prepare the infrastructure for the introduction of innovations in this sector.
OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told the plenary session that “over the past few months, the global oil market has been saturated with uncertainty”, which was exacerbated by the recent attacks on the energy facilities of the world’s largest energy producer – Saudi Arabia. He recalled that as a result, the price of oil soared by more than 7%. “This is the highest volatility we have seen in the last 30 years,” he commented, expressing hope that the Kingdom will restore production “as soon as possible”. Later at a press conference at the Forum, OPEC Secretary General recalled that Saudi Arabia lost up to 50% of its production as a result of the attacks. This incident, which caused a shock to the global energy market, forced oil producers to reconsider their security programs.
M. Barkindo noted at the plenary session that oil and gas will occupy a significant share in the structure of energy resources until 2040. In the long term, he said, OPEC expects an increase in demand for oil, with a significant amount of supply to developing countries. At the same time, Kazakhstan will fulfill its obligations under the OPEC and OPEC+ agreement. “We just had a productive meeting with Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin. I was assured by his Excellency that Kazakhstan will play a leading role in the Declaration of Cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries,” M. Barkindo said.
Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev declared Kazakhstan’s intention to comply with the OPEC and OPEC+ agreement aimed at stabilizing the oil market during an Interactive discussion on “Future of Oil: Reality and Forecasts”, held immediately after the plenary session.
“We, as a responsible partner, will fulfill our obligations, and until the end of this transaction, we will remain in the corridor that was guaranteed to our colleagues,” the Minister said. “We hope that this deal in one form or another will be continued in the future, because this is a very correct initiative, which occurred for the first time in history,” K. Bozumbayev said.
The interactive discussion, which was also attended by OPEC Secretary General M. Barkindo, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC NC KazMunayGas Alik Aidarbayev, Senior Vice President of ExxonMobil Upstream Oil and Gas Tom Schuessler, Vice President, Caspian and Southern Europe, Total Exploration and Production William Harwood and other speakers, aroused great interest from the Forum participants.
The KazEnergy Eurasian Forum has been held since 2006 and is the main international event of the energy sector in the Caspian and Central Asian regions. Traditionally, KAZENERGY Forum attracts interest from the Governments of the world countries, international energy organizations, diplomatic missions, Kazakhstani and foreign companies in the energy sector, research institutes and consulting agencies. Every year, it is attended by more than 2.5 thousand delegates from more than 300 companies representing more than 50 countries. Guests of the Forum for many years are influential political figures, recognized experts from around the world, which emphasizes the high authority of the event.
