Kazakhstan has dampened possible expectations of a large-scale expansion of oil supplies to Europe. Kazakhstan cannot simply replace the quantities lost in the West by not using Russian oil, said the energy minister of the oil- and gas-rich ex-Soviet republic, Bolat Akschulakov, on Wednesday in the capital Nur-Sultan. “We don’t have that option,” the Russian news agency Interfax quoted the minister as saying.
Oil production is not comparable to a faucet that you can simply turn on more to get larger amounts, Akschulakov emphasized. “To produce such amounts of oil, you have to invest a lot of money in the fields and drill holes,” he said. “It takes a lot of time and money.”
Just a month ago, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev promised the EU oil and gas supplies. “Kazakhstan is ready to use its hydrocarbon potential to stabilize the situation on world markets, including Europe.”
Kazakhstan is considered an ally of Russia, but does not clearly side with Moscow when it comes to Ukraine. President Tokayev caused a stir in mid-June when he declared at a joint panel discussion with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin that Kazakhstan – unlike Russia – would not recognize the eastern Ukrainian separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states.