OREANDA-NEWS. December 05, 2014. There are no strong reasons to believe that the cause of mass poisoning in the village Berezovka in the West Kazakhstan Region is the industrial waste from fields. It was announced by First Deputy Minister of Energy Uzakbai Karabalin during the briefing in the CCS.

"Sampling of air, land was organized on the spot in order to determine the effect of any factor. Usually the easiest option is to blame this field, which is nearby. But for today, it is clear There are no strong reasons to declare about it," U. Karabalin said, answering journalists' questions - who is responsible for mass poisoning in the village Beryozovka.  

According to him, qualified specialists are working to identify the causes of mass poisoning in the village. "The operations on the emergency site are being carried out. Those who suffered have been placed in hospitals. Analyses, treatment schedule have been held. I think that the Commissions, which should be on the spot, need to identify the root cause, and hence conclusions will be made," he added.

We shall recall, students one by one began to lose consciousness and fall into a swoon in the school of the village Berezovka on November 28. 19 school students and 3 teachers were hospitalized in Burlin district hospital. Later, six children with signs of unknown gas poisoning were transferred to the regional hospital, which is located in Uralsk.

Berezovka village is adjacent to the Karachaganak field. Locals say that the reasons for their illnesses are hazardous waste from the field. Experts of the regional health department of the WKR have confirmed that the mass poisoning of schoolchildren in the village of Berezovka was due to exposure to toxic materials. In turn, the Berezovka villagers request to resettle them immediately. In 2002 the village got into the five-kilometer sanitary protection zone of the field, and resettlement seemed real, but then the area was reduced to three kilometers.

Deputy Minister of Energy Uzakbai Karabalin does not exclude the possibility that the price of gasoline AI-95 and AI-96 may soon rise.

"Of course, there may be some changes in prices, but not to 370 tenge per liter," U. Karabalin said commenting journalists' questions about a possible increase in fuel prices.

We shall recall that the deputy of Senate Lyazzat Kiinov was the first to say in media that gasoline AI-95 and AI-96 could rise to 370 tenge in Kazakhstan in 2015. According to the senator, Kazakhstan may face a situation when we have to raise domestic oil prices to world levels in 2015.

"Senator L. Kiinov did not specify the price. He said that if we are going to buy oil from large deposits at the world price today, in this case. Since the original oil will have export price, then the calculation of petroleum products should be at that price, which was specified," U. Karabalin explained Senator’s statement.

Shale gas can be used for gasification of regions.

"Kazakhstan is virtually the wealthiest country on gas, but, nevertheless, in some countries shale gas deposits are more significant. On the example of the United States, we see that this is a very big resource, which you need to know and keep it in balance, and we find where to use it," U. Karabalin said, answering journalists' questions.

He noted that today shale gas deposits in Kazakhstan have not been fully studied. "In Soviet times when gas field was found, it was closed and oil exploration continued, but now the Committee of Geology has been allocated money for gas exploration. Surely it can be found, because there is formation of hydrocarbons in sedimentary basins, and some may be in shale rocks," he added.

U. Karabalin said that it is better to use shale gas for the domestic market. "I believe that if it will be competitive with the prices of natural gas, it should be used in the domestic market. It may be found in the regions where main gas pipelines of large deposits do not reach the region. It would be a great help. If we have gasified eight regions, the rest still need gasification, so we could supply these regions with this gas when it is detected in the surrounding grounds," First Deputy Minister of Energy supposed.

According to U. Karabalina, gas production in Kazakhstan has increased by 5 times and has reached 40 billion cubic meters over Independence period. Consumption is 11.5 billion. “We will reinject into the reservoir about half out of 40 billion that we produce to maintain reservoir pressure in these large fields. Thus the production of liquid hydrocarbons will increase as at 1 stage. We believe that we will dramatically increase the amount of gas to 30 billion cubic meters, or to 40 billion closer to 2030, when we stop pumping gas reservoirs in such large quantities. Then the country will become exportable," he concluded.