Kazakhstan to allocate $17.5 million for oil exploration

Kazakhstan will allocate over $17.5 million for oil exploration in 2015 to conduct geological exploration, Kazakh Investment and Development Minister, Asset Issekeshev, said at the first forum 'Exploration in Kazakhstan: the focus on oil and gas' today.

"In 2015 the national budget and the National Fund will allocate 3.2 billion tenge to finance new regional oil and gas exploration works. In particular, there will be financed two geophysical surveys of two geotraverses and the drilling of two support appraisal wells," Novosti-Kazakhstan cited him as saying.

"I would like to note that the state will pay for geology works in the least studied areas where it is problematic to attract investors," Issekeshev noted. 

In his turn, Kazakh First Deputy Energy Minister Uzakbai Karabalin said that a total number of 203 subsoil-use contracts in the field of hydrocarbons have been registered with the Energy Ministry so far, including 59 exploration contracts, 64 production contracts, 68 mixed exploration and production contracts and 12 contracts under the Production Sharing Agreement.