ASTANA, January 20 (RIA Novosti) – Kazakhstan is expecting to see a slight increase in oil production to 83 million metric tons this year, the presidential press service said Monday.
“In 2014, Kazakhstan is planning to produce 83 million tons of oil and 41 billion cubic meters of natural gas, as well as refine 14.7 million tons of oil,” the press service said.
Last year, the oil-rich Central Asian country produced 81.8 million metric tons of oil and 42.3 cubic meters of natural gas.
Kazakhstan, an oil producer since 1911, has the second-largest oil reserves as well as the second-largest oil production among the former Soviet republics after Russia, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Kazakhstan’s proven oil reserves were estimated at 30 billion barrels (some 4.3 billion metric tons) by the Oil & Gas Journal in January 2013.
