At the Government meeting, the project of KazTransGaz for the extraction of methane from coal seams was considered.

The Government of Kazakhstan held a meeting at which a report on the state of the domestic coal chemical industry was announced, as well as heard proposals for its further development.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev heard reports of akims of coal mining regions, heads of mining enterprises and associations, scientists.

Minister of energy of Kazakhstan Kanat Bozumbayev told about the main state of Affairs in this sphere. As the head of the Ministry of energy noted, the Ministry developed and approved an action plan, a Road map for the development of the coal industry for the future until 2030. The priority was given to improving the environmental situation in the regions, and the production of high-value coal products.

According to the Minister, in connection with the transition of Kazakhstan to the “green economy” there is an urgent need for the development of coal chemistry, which can provide a qualitative change in consumer properties of products and, accordingly, increase its market price, and most importantly – will allow to go beyond the market of thermal coal. Kanat Bozumbayev also said that a comprehensive project for the extraction of methane from coal seams is being developed.

The General Director of KazTransGas JSC Rustam Suleymanov, who took part in the meeting of the Government, presented to the head of the Cabinet of Ministers more detailed information on this project. According to him, it will be possible to get up to 12 cubic meters of methane from 1 ton of coal in Karaganda region, and the resources available there are about 550 billion cubic meters. As noted by Rustam Suleymanov, 2015 on behalf of the President of our country on the organization of exploration and production of coalbed methane “KazTransGas” has started implementation of the project in Sherubai-coal Nura district of Karaganda coal basin.

The subsoil use contract belongs to “Saryarka” SEC. To date, 8 wells have been drilled, 3 of which are exploratory, 5 are pilot wells. The first gas has already been produced and further development is underway. The results of the core taken from the wells were sent to the world’s leading laboratories in America, Europe and China. According to the General Director of JSC “KazTransGas”, it has already been concluded that the coal content of our coal is commensurate with similar largest deposits in America – black Warrior, which produces 1.5 billion cubic meters. We have a ton of coal accounts for 10 to 12 cubic meters of gas.

According to Rustam Suleymanov, the international company “Baker Hughes” is currently conducting a feasibility study on the prospects of gas production and its commercialization, which is planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

Following the meeting of the Government and discussion of issues, the Prime Minister instructed his first Deputy Askar Mamin to prepare proposals to address these issues and to carry out overall coordination of this work. The head of the Cabinet also noted the need to pay attention to the issue of environmental safety in the field of coal mining and processing.