Uploaded on 2015-11-20 by ArminiusUngeist

Surprisingly, the dominant fossil fuel used in Kazakhstan is not oil (as production would indicate) but **coal** followed by gas. In 2013, the own use of coal and gas represented 36.09 Mtoe and 22.47 Mtoe respectively, while the actual oil consumption was just 17.81 Mtoe. All in the context of a 2013 oil production of 85.21 Mtoe (with an export of **non-refined oil of 70.80 Mtoe** and **just 6.35 Mtoe oil products**), followed by a coal production of 52.44 Mtoe and a gas production of 30.69 Mtoe. Coal was mainly used to supply the power stations of the country with a share of 20.92 Mtoe, while the industry demand for 2013 was 11.92 Mtoe. In the same time, 2.78 Mtoe of coal was used in other activities and 0.03 Mtoe in transport. Coal seemed to be massively used to produce heat and electricity with an annual loss of 6.42 Mtoe, equivalent with the annual country's necessary of oil products in industry and transport combined, generating residual gases and heavy pollution (see image). In the same time, bio/waste and hydro production combined raised to just 0.73 Mtoe. A solution might be the use of hydro production using most of the large rivers in the country. Though not without environmental risks, this type of energy production is non-polluting and can gradually replace the coal using power stations of the present. Another alternative might be nuclear power, totally absent in a country fairly rich in nuclear fuel. Beside this, green alternatives can be implemented in various regions of the country according with the possibilities of using the sun or the wind as a source of energy. Increasing the use of bio/waste to produce energy might be extremely helpful as well. A solution that can improve the economic growth of the country might be the gradual shift from exporting raw oil to exporting refined products bringing in more revenues. [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14480152059734299.jpg