Methane from Karaganda coal may be used to supply gas to central Kazakhstan

Methane from Karaganda coal basin can be used to supply gas to central Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reports citing Vice-Minister of Oil and Gas of Kazakhstan Magzum Mirzagaliyev. "KazTransGas is studying methane production capacities of coal basins in Karaganda Oblast. The reserves are huge there. They can be used to supply gas to the central regions of the country," Mirzagaliyev told the Majilis Committee for Social and Culture Development. Majilis is the Lower Chamber of the Parliament. According to the Vice-Minister, the technologies required to implement the idea have already been developed. "Last week representatives of KazTransGas visited the United States and had meetings with several service companies and labs. They achieves several agreement and are now scheduling a feasibility study After the calculations are ready later this year, they plan to drill 5-6 wells. Then they will evaluate the deposits and the final decision on the projects will be made by the end of 2015," he said. There are two more prospective methane-related innovative projects in Kyzylorda Oblast that Kazakhstan is eyeing. "Construction of a liquefied natural gas plant would enable us to produce liquified gas that can be transported in tanks by rail. According to our consultants it is more feasible to transport gas in liquified form via railways if the distance is greater than 500 km rather then construct gas pipelines," Mirzagaliyev said, adding that this project could be a way to "supply gas to Astana and other northern and central regions of Kazakhstan." The second project, he told about, was the a GTL (Gas-to-liquids) plant to produce diesel fuel from natural gas. "We signed a memorandum with a British company last week. It is a brand new project; there are only several such plants in the world so far," he said. By Altynai Zhumzhumina