Dauren Abaev. Photo: gov.kz.
The main gas pipeline “Ishim–Astana,” intended to supply Kazakhstan’s northern regions, is scheduled to be put into operation on January 1, 2030. Dauren Abaev, Kazakhstan’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Russia, announced this in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.
He clarified that the announced timeframe is “preliminary.”
A memorandum on building the new pipeline to the republic was signed by Gazprom and Kazakhstan in October 2025. The official ceremony took place at the 14th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.
Several months earlier, a directive on the Russian government’s website outlined plans to construct a trunk pipeline to deliver gas to Kazakhstan’s northern and northeastern regions. It stated that the pipeline’s capacity would be 10 billion cubic meters, with compressor station capacity of 50 MW.
Gas supplies to Kazakhstan were expected to come from fields in Western Siberia.
Under one previously proposed option, the pipeline was to run from Russia through northeastern Kazakhstan and onward to China. Discussions of this project, according to Kazakh authorities, are ongoing. However, experts have questioned its feasibility after Gazprom and China’s CNPC signed a legally binding memorandum on the construction of the Power of Siberia–2 pipeline and a transit pipeline through Mongolia.
