Kazakhstan suspends power supplies to Russia over rouble depreciation

Starting from November 24 Kazakhstan has suspended power supplies to the neighboring Russia over the Russia’s rouble depreciation, CA-News reports, citing Samruk – Energo Chairman of the Board Mr. Almasadam Satkaliyev.

“We have suspended power supplies over the lingering Russia’s currency devaluation. Supplies are no longer economically viable for Kazakhstan-based power plants. Loss of the markets is an important issue”, he told a briefing at the President’s Service for Public Communications.

Among other things, he also commented on Kazakhstan’s coal supplies to Russia: “Russia’s economy is not ready to import Kazakhstan’s coals at higher prices. Russia has adopted a program to replace Kazakhstan’s coal (…) a second factor is the continuing devaluation of the Russian rouble. All the contracts rely on the Russian rouble; therefore for the Kazakh side it is of great importance to ensure economic viability of supplies”.

As the country’s media reported earlier, Kazakhstan is looking for alternative markets for its coal as Russia is seeking to replace Kazakhstan’s coal with coal mined at Russia’s Kuzbass.
According to Russia’s Kommersant, back in 2013 Kazakhstan’s power supplies to Russia stood at 3.9 billion kilowatt hours.