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Content:
1 Top Story
3 Interview
5 Feature
7 Sector
9 Corporate statement
11 Economics & finance
13 Chart
14 News in brief
www.bne.eu
October 2014
Top story
Kazakh sovereign wealth fund told to double assets in
five years
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has
ordered national wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna to
double the value of its assets over the next five
years. The fund’s assets are currently valued at
$100bn.
Nazarbayev told a Samruk-Kazyna forum in
Astana on October 6 that the fund’s assets now
accounted for 50% of the country’s GDP and
state-owned companies run by Samruk-Kazyna
paid KZT2.5 trillion ($13.9bn) in taxes in the past
three years. It now employs more than 350,000
people. Samruk-Kazyna manages state-owned
assets such as oil and gas giant KazMunaiGas,
railway operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy,
uranium producer Kazatomprom, Air Astana, and
Kazakhtelecom.
The president suggested that the fund should
increase its value by creating new portfolio
The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector is
a multilateral partner of the Invest in Astana newsletter
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
companies and through increasing productivity
and investment in efficient and profitable
projects. Ultimately, at least three SamrukKazyna-run companies should be included in
the Fortune-500 list of global companies with
sales exceeding $5bn, he said. KazMunaiGas and
Kazakhstan Temir Zholy qualify for the list at the
moment.
Samruk-Kazyna is undergoing a restructuring
programme to shed non-core assets. Umirzak
Shukeyev, the fund’s head, told the forum that
under the programme, the number of the fund’s
subsidiaries and dependent companies would
be reduced from nearly 600 to 300 and the level
of management levels would be cut from nine
to four. Shukeyev said the fund had already cut
operating costs by KZT128bn ($710m).
Lack of transparency and nepotism at stateowned companies remained a problem, the
president complained. Nazarbayev threatened to
sack Shukeyev if the companies continue to hire
“one’s acquaintances”. “It is sufficient to make a
call or be one’s acquaintance to place a person
Page 2
in a job who then sits there idle. This is the main
problem,” the president said. “Mr Shukeyev, if
you cope with this task you will work, if you don’t
you will not work.”
Shukeyev told the forum that the restructuring
programme aimed to improve management at
state companies. “This will ensure an additional
contribution to GDP worth KZT2,000bn or $11bn”
by 2020, he said. Kazakhstan’s GDP stood at
$220bn last year.
Samruk-Kazyna plans to get rid of non-core
assets by privatising them fully or partially. The
programme also envisages selling shares in
national companies to the population in what’s
known as a “people’s IPO”. Nazarbayev called
for the plans to be made transparent to enable
as many ordinary citizens as possible to buy
shares. “We should involve a maximum number
of Kazakhs in the programme, so each citizen
could feel economic growth by increasing their
own wellbeing through purchasing
shares in companies which launch the
‘people’s IPO’,” Nazarbayev said.
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
Page 3
Interview
EEU to set up common energy market by 2025
The member states of the Eurasian Economic
Union (EEU) are working on setting up common
energy markets as global competition for
energy resources and markets is intensifies
and interdependence between suppliers and
consumers increases, according to a top EEU
official.
Danial Akhmetov, energy commissioner of the
Eurasian Economic Commission and a former
Kazakh prime minister, told an international oil
and gas conference in Almaty on October 1 that
the establishment of common markets of gas,
of oil and petroleum products, and of energy
transport systems was prompted by the changing
structure and geography of energy flows due
to the breakthroughs in producing shale oil
and gas. Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus set
up the Customs Union in 2010, which will be
transformed into the Eurasian Economic Union
in 2015. Kyrgyzstan and Armenia are expected to
join the Moscow-led free-trade bloc by the end of
this year.
The development of shale deposits will increase
competition on the energy market and will
directly hit strategic interests of suppliers of
conventional energy, Akhmetov said. “In this
situation issues of ensuring competitiveness of
fuel and energy sectors of member states of the
Customs Union and Single Economic Space are
becoming increasingly topical.”
With the US set to fully meet its energy needs
by 2025 thanks to shale gas output reaching
about 470bn cubic metres (cm),
the CU member states will adopt
a blueprint for the development of
common markets of gas, oil and
petroleum products by January 1,
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
2016, and adopt programmes for setting up
the common markets by January 1, 2018. “In
addition, we anticipate measures stipulated in
these programmes should be implemented by
2024 after which international treaties on the
formation of common markets of gas and oil and
petroleum products that should come into force
no later than 2025,” Akhmetov said.
In addition to global energy trends, the energy
commissioner explained, falling oil production
in Russia is forcing Customs Union member
states to unite their energy producing capacities
to remain competitive: thus the reduction in
Russian oil output to 505m tonnes a year by
2025 will be offset by an increase in Kazakh oil
production of between 95m and 125m tonnes,
while the combined output of gas in Russia
and Kazakhstan will exceed 800bn cm per year.
“This will enable them to maintain their export
capacities,” Akhmetov suggested.
“The EEU Treaty clearly defines goals and tasks
of cooperation between the member states in
the energy sector,” he said. “In particular, in the
oil and sector this concerns the stage-by-stage
formation of a common gas market, common oil
and petroleum products markets, and common
market of oil and gas transport systems.”
These goals and tasks will be implemented
based on the basic principles of ensuring
competitiveness in the energy sector, the
removal of obstacles to trade in energy
resources, the development of transport
infrastructure, and ensuring non-discriminatory
conditions for market players from member
states in the energy sector, according to the EEU
common energy market plans. These treaties
will provide for common rules for accessing
Page 4
energy transport systems, which is important
for creating a competitive environment and
using efficiently oil and gas infrastructure in the
Customs Union.
The Eurasian energy commissioner explained
that bilateral treaties signed between the
member states would be in force until the
creation of the common markets, as this
will take some time. “A gradual approach to
transformation is more preferable than excessive
hastiness,” he said.
Kazakhstan safe from Western sanctions
In an interview with bne on the sidelines of
the conference, Akhmetov explained that
Kazakhstan’s involvement in the establishment
of common energy and transport markets with
Russia would not jeopardise Astana’s cooperation
with the West in the oil and gas sphere. “The EEU
is a union purely in the economic sphere and it
is not exposed to political influence,” Akhmetov
told bne. “We believe the sanctions against
Russia concern only Russia, and Kazakhstan is
free from these sanctions. Kazakhstan is actively
interacting with the entire world.”
Despite being a member of the Russia-led
free trade bloc, Kazakhstan’s trade within the
Customs Union countries constitutes only
19% of its total trade and the rest is trade
with the EU, China and the US, he noted. The
Western sanctions have shut Russian stateowned companies off from Western oil and gas
technologies as well as the capital markets.
“[Western] investment activities are not
decreasing but increasing in Kazakhstan, and
new technologies are coming to Kazakhstan and
will continue to do so,” Akhmetov believes.
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
Page 5
Feature
oil] output." Tengizchevroil, which is developing
the onshore giant Tengiz field, is expected to
produce 27m tonnes of oil this year, he noted. TCO
is planning repairs in October that are expected to
be completed quickly, Mirzagaliyev explained.
The deputy energy minister said that the
government was in talks with other oil producers
to increase their output. "We are closely
working with each licence holder to issue
necessary permissions and consider necessary
project documentation as quickly as possible,"
Mirzagaliyev said.
Kashagan delay dashes Kazakh
hopes of raising oil output
before 2016
Delays in the resumption of oil production from
the giant offshore Kashagan field have dashed
the Kazakh government's hopes of increasing oil
output before 2016. Fearing that the delay in the
start of Kashagan’s commercial production will
damage economic performance, the government
is trying to compensate for the shortfall by
increasing output from other fields.
Kazakhstan will maintain oil output at last year's
81.8m tonnes this year and next year, Magzum
Mirzagaliyev, deputy energy minister, told
journalists at the KIOGE oil and gas conference
in Almaty on October 1. "Our plans for this
year remain at 81.8m tonnes. We expect we
will fulfil the plans," Mirzagaliyev said. "We
are now looking for reserves, particularly, TCO
[Tengizchevroil] has a great impact on the [total
Production at Kashagan was launched on
September 11, 2013, but a leak on the gas
pipeline running to the onshore processing
facility at Bolashak led production to be halted on
September 24. An attempt to restart operations
was abandoned on October 9.
Astana expected Kashagan to resume production
in July, and forecast it would produce 2.5-3m
tonnes of oil by the end of the year. Myrzagaliyev
suggested that production would now resume in
the field in the second half of 2016. "Judging by
information we receive and technical forecasts we
see, it [resumption] should be in the second half of
2016," he said.
The Kazakh government is now holding talks with
the Kashagan developers on the penalties they
will face for delaying commercial production, and
costs borne by them since the suspension will
not be covered, Mirzagaliyev said. "On September
11, 2013, you remember, the contractor [NCOC]
achieved commercial production. Costs borne
under the phase one since October will not be
compensated for," he said. However,
"the sum hasn't yet been determined”.
The Kazakh government had, until
recently, been forecasting a major
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
leap in oil output this year on the back of the start
of commercial production at Kashagan. Over the
next five years, Kazakhstan's oil production was
expected to increase by around 25%, from 82m
tonnes in 2012 to 102m tonnes in 2017. Kashagan,
in the Caspian Sea, was the largest oilfield
discovery in the world in the last three decades,
and has estimated recoverable reserves of around
13bn barrels of oil.
Kashagan is being developed by the international
consortium NCOC. State-owned KazMunaiGas
Page 6
owns an 16.88% stake in the project, Eni,
Shell, Total and ExxonMobil hold 16.81%
each, with Japan's Inpex owning 7.56%. US
major ConocoPhilips sold its 8.33% stake to
KazMunaiGas for $5.4bn in 2013, which in turn
sold it to China's CNPC.
Chevron holds 50% in TCO, with ExxonMobil
owning 25%, KazMunaiGas 20% and Lukarco,
controlled by Lukoil, holding 5%.
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
Page 7
Sector
Kazakhstan to upgrade refineries by 2016 to prevent repeat of
fuel shortages
Kazakhstan’s government has vowed to make the
country more self-reliant on petroleum products
after it completes the overhaul of the country's
three Soviet-era refineries in 2016, in a bid to
prevent a repeat of September’s chronic fuel
shortages. However, the energy ministry said
on October 7 it had decided not to build a fourth
refinery, instead opting to expand the existing
Shymkent refinery.
"We expect the modernisation of the refineries to
be completed in 2016. As a result, the country will
be able to satisfy its needs in petroleum products
that we now have to import from the Russian
Federation," Mirzagaliyev said.
The oil-rich Central Asian nation currently has to
cover around 30% of demand with imports from
Russia. This causes problems because wholesale
prices of some types of petrol and diesel supplied
Deputy Energy Minister Magzum Mirzagaliyev told in Russia are higher than Kazakhstan's domestic
retail prices, which are set by the government.
the KIOGE international oil and gas conference
This discrepancy makes imports of fuel
in Almaty on October 1 that the country was
unprofitable, which in September led to acute
implementing a programme to reconstruct the
Atyrau, Pavlodar and Shymkent refineries, whose fuel shortages and kilometre-long queues at the
combined capacity is too low to satisfy domestic
pumps.
demand for light petroleum products. After the
modernisation programme, Kazakhstan will raise There had been some uncertainty
about whether the government would
the level of demand met by domestic production
opt to expand the Shymkent refinery
from the current 70% to 88%.
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
or build a fourth refinery to deal with any fuel
shortages after 2023. Alisher Argimbayev, deputy
chairman of the Energy Ministry's department
for the development of the oil industry, told bne
that shortages of diesel are estimated at 91,000
tonnes in 2023 and 160,000 tonnes in 2025.
However, on October 7, First Deputy Energy
Minister Uzakbay Karabalin told MPs that
the government had opted for expanding the
Shymkent refinery, because for a new refinery to
be feasible its capacity would have to be at least
10m tonnes. “The government has suggested
the expansion of the Shymkent refinery instead
of building a fourth one, and the head of state
[President Nursultan Nazarbayev] has approved
this proposal,” Karabalin told hearings in
parliament. “This is the most favourable option.”
Mirzagaliyev told the KIOGE conference that an
expansion of the Shymkent was more feasible
than the construction of a fourth refinery,
because Shymkent has room for capacity to be
expanded as well as the necessary logistics and
customers to handle the extra product.
Speaking at the KIOGE conference on October
2, Kadyrberdi Elevsinov, managing director at
KazMunaiGas Refining and Marketing, said
that following the reconstruction of the existing
refineries, capacity would increase from 14.3m
tonnes in 2013 to 18.5m tonnes in 2017. This
translates into 115.3% growth in high-octane
petrol production to 5.73m tonnes, a 38.3%
increase in diesel output to 5.63m tonnes, and a
138% jump in jet fuel production to 957,000 tonnes.
The reconstruction programme will also see the
Page 8
northern Pavlodar refinery completely switch to
refining domestic oil instead of Siberian oil.
Domestic petrol prices to rise
Since the Kazakh government caps the prices
of 80 octane and 92 octane petrol and diesel in
order to keep inflation under control (transport
costs are believed to make up up to 50% of the
price of finished products in Kazakhstan), a 19%
devaluation of the tenge in February has made
Kazakh domestic retail fuel prices lower than the
wholesale prices in Russia.
Mirzagaliyev admitted that this discouraged
independent traders from importing fuel from
Russia, leading to the recent shortages. The
situation is improving because KazMunaiGas, the
national oil and gas company, agreed to import
180,000 tonnes of light petroleum products from
Russia and 10,000 tonnes from Azerbaijan at a
loss, he said. "However, we are not ready and are
not planning to abandon the state regulation of
fuel prices," the deputy energy minister conceded.
On October 1, First Deputy Energy Minister
Uzakbay Karabalin complained that the low
prices of petrol meant Kazakhstan was "in
essence a cheap petrol station in the entire
Eurasian space" for vehicles transiting through
the country. "The issue is how long we will be
able to continue this. I believe there should be an
increase in price in the future," Karabalin said.
The first deputy energy ministry suggested that
Kazakhstan might bring petrol prices to the Russian
levels by 2019, but stressed that the current prices
would be maintained until the end of this year.
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
Page 9
Corporate statement
Samruk-Kazyna restructuring to generate $11bn for
Kazakh GDP
Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth
fund that manages stakes in major state-owned
assets worth a combined nearly $100bn, is
overhauling its business strategy, including the
approaches to investment and asset management.
Under the programme, which was publicly
announced during the Samruk-Kazyna
Transformation Forum in Astana on October
6, new management mechanisms will soon be
introduced in all companies managed by the
fund. As early as 2014, business processes will
be re-engineered in three pilot organisations
– Kazakhstan Temir Zholy national railways
company, national oil and gas company
KazMunaiGas, and postal operator KazPost.
These measures, Samruk-Kazyna hopes, will
reduce operating costs by 20% by 2017, and
generate more than $11.2bn in value added for
Kazakhstan’s economy.
In addition to improvements in business
processes, the transformation programme
envisages attracting external investors, selling
non-core assets and improving investment
portfolios, as well as comprehensively
reorganising and streamlining the fund’s
operations. As a result, the number of companies
managed by Samruk-Kazyna will be reduced from
the current 600 to 300 by 2017. Furthermore,
in the short to medium term, major companies
like grid operator KEGOC, Samruk-Energo,
Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and nuclear holding
KazAtomProm will carry out IPOs.
Samruk-Kazyna’s so-called “transformation
programme” is a key element of the country’s
Strategy 2050 – an ambitious development
initiative of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. “By
that time, Kazakhstan should become one of the
world’s 30 most developed countries. To achieve
this goal, in the next several years we should
increase growth in productivity from 3.6% to 6.5%,
and the investment level should grow from 21.4%
to 30.0% of GDP. These results are
possible only based on a fundamental
change in the country’s economy, and
this change must be led by SamrukKazyna sovereign wealth fund, which
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
owns the nation’s main strategic enterprises,”
President Nazarbayev told the forum.
Beyond business strategy, the transformation
programme provides for a complete overhaul
of Samruk-Kazyna’s approaches to operational
management through the introduction of a
“commercial strategic holding” model. Internal
reforms will entail three main directions – PeopleProcesses-Technologies – to create a management
structure that can react swiftly to changes in the
market using cutting-edge technologies.
Page 10
revenues from the same level of investments.
For that reason, our goal will be to continuously
increase the value of the Fund’s subsidiaries
through profit maximisation,” Samruk-Kazyna
CEO Umirzak Shukeyev said.
“Given the shift in economic gravity towards Asia,
opportunities for Kazakhstan to be a regional
and even global driver of economic growth are
obviously expanding,” the renowned economist
Nouriel Roubini said at the forum. “In this context,
the efforts of the country’s leadership to create a
modern and attractive development model can only
Increased capital efficiency will be a specific focus be welcome. And in this model, a modernised and
competitive sovereign wealth fund which effectively
of the transformation programme. “Sovereign
manages state assets is a key element.”
funds in other countries are generating greater
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
Page 11
Economics & finance
yields are more than 1 percentage point lower
since their January highs, Bloomberg added.
“Bearing in mind high demand from investors
[for the Kazakh Eurobond] we expect the yields
of corporate Eurobonds to fall by 20-30 basis
points,” said Sabina Amangeldy, an analyst at the
Almaty-based investment bank Halyk Finance.
Kazakh Eurobond set to provide
new benchmark for corporate
issues
Investors showed high interest in the sovereign
Eurobond, which attracted bids to the tune of
$11bn. Citigroup, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase
arranged the sale. Kazakhstan holds a 'Baa2'
rating with a positive outlook from Moody’s, and
a 'BBB+' rating from Standard & Poor’s (negative
outlook) and Fitch Ratings (stable outlook).
Previously the Kazakh government issued sevenyear Eurobonds worth $300m in April 2000. The
government planned to issue Eurobonds in 2010,
but abandoned the plans because of market
conditions and obtained a $1bn loan from the
World Bank instead.
Kazakh corporate bond yields fell on October 7
after the government returned to global capital
markets with its first dollar-denominated
Eurobond issue in 14 years. Good demand for
the $2.5bn issue and the low yields achieved are
expected to provide a new benchmark for Kazakh “The Finance Ministry used a favourable situation
corporate bond issuers such as state oil and gas of low interest rates to fund budget deficit ahead
of an anticipated increase in rates in the first
firm KazMunaiGas.
half of 2014,” wrote Amangeldy in a commentary
on October 7. The analyst noted that the Kazakh
Kazakhstan issued 10-year Eurobonds worth
$1.5bn and 30-year bonds worth $1bn on October Finance Ministry increased borrowing in the
6. The 10-year bonds were priced to yield 4.07%, fourth quarter when transfers from the National
Oil Fund dry out. “Another reason is to set a
with a spread of 150 basis points over midbenchmark for corporate issuers.”
swaps, and the 30-year bonds had a yield of
5.11% (with a spread of 200 basis points).
In February the country’s sovereign wealth fund
Samruk-Kazyna, which manages state-owned
In response, Bloomberg said that the yield on
assets including KazMunaiGas, said that its
KazMunaiGas' 10-year and 30-year Eurobonds
worth a combined $3bn issued in 2013 fell by 0.15 subsidiaries would need to raise over $2bn in
global capital markets.
percentage point to 4.56% and 0.14 percentage
point to 5.92% respectively on the news. The
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October 2014
Page 12
Great Aral Sea has dried up, NASA photos show
The eastern basin of the South Aral Sea, also
known as the Great Aral Sea, completely dried up
this summer, according to NASA pictures taken
in August. The Aral Sea was the world's fourth
largest lake until it started drying up in the 1960s
because of extensive cotton production in Soviet
Central Asia.
"Summer 2014 marked another milestone
for the Aral Sea, the once-extensive lake in
Central Asia that has been shrinking markedly
since the 1960s. For the first time in modern
history, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea
has completely dried," the NASA-run Earth
Observatory website said on September 26.
"This is the first time the eastern basin has
completely dried in modern times," said Philip
Micklin, a geographer emeritus from Western
Michigan University and an Aral Sea expert,
according to Earth Observatory. "And it is likely
the first time it has completely dried in 600 years,
since Medieval desiccation associated with diversion
of Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea."
The Aral Sea started drying up in the 1960s when the
Soviet government diverted Central Asia's two major
rivers - the Amu Darya and Syr Darya - to cotton
fields. The sea, once covering an area of nearly 70,000
square kilometres and containing over 1bn cubic km
of water, split into the northern and southern parts,
now known as the Little Aral Sea and Great Aral
Sea, in 1989 and the southern part split further into
western and eastern lobes in 2003.
Micklin explained that the eastern lobe first
disappeared in 2009 but it rebounded the following
year because of wet years. The dry conditions in 2014
meant that the eastern lobe has now disappeared
completely.
The two pictures below show first the
Aral Sea in 1960, followed by the August
2014 that shows the eastern lobe gone.
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October 2014
Page 13
Chart
Kazakhstan’s prudence on show
The budget of oil-rich Kazakhstan, like other big
hydrocarbon producers, depends massively on
the global oil price. In order to minimise the risk
of failing to meet its social commitments, the
Kazakh government uses conservative forecasts
of global oil prices when it budgets for public
spending. When the actual oil prices are higher
than the fiscal breakeven oil prices used for
budgeting, the government receives a windfall,
which it can then use to increase public-sector
wages, welfare payments and pensions later in
the year.
This month’s chart shows that compared with
other oil-producing countries, Kazakhstan has
successfully reduced the fiscal breakeven oil
price since the global economic crisis hit in 2008.
This means that in fiscal terms, it is well placed
to weather any fall in the oil price.
The government’s conservative approach to
the breakeven oil price also helps explain the
success of the October’s $3.5bn Eurobond issue,
which garnered bids worth a total of $11bn. This
marked Kazakhstan’s return to the global capital
markets after a period of 14 years.
The issue of the bonds was prompted by the need
to set a benchmark for Kazakh corporate issuers,
many of which need to borrow large sums
over the next year or so to invest in expanding
operations and rolling over existing debt.
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October 2014
Page 14
News in brief
Russian, Kazakh leaders meet
to revive falling trade
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with his
Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev on
September 30 that the sides need to follow the
current trends in the global economy and their
own economies to “make certain adjustments”
to reverse the recent decline in trade, ITAR-TASS
reported.
Putin met with his Kazakh counterpart in Atyrau,
some 350km east of the Russian city of Astrakhan,
ahead of the Russia-Kazakhstan interregional
cooperation forum.
While acknowledging that there has been a
decrease in bilateral trade this year, the Kazakh
president stressed, “I think this is a temporary
trend.” He urged the two countries to adopt the
necessary measures to increase trade.
in this region. About 30% of the Caspian Lowland
territory is in Russia.
Almaty and Beijing to vie for
2022 Winter Olympic Games
Oslo is set to withdraw from the race to host the
2022 Winter Olympics, leaving Almaty and Beijing
to vie for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Kazakhstan extends
moratorium on bread price
rises until end-Oct
Kazakhstan has extended the capping of bread
prices until the end of October to avert social
discontent caused by rising food prices.
The original memoranda on grain prices
were signed by the Agriculture Ministry,
local administrations and the Food Contract
Corporation national grain operator in February
following a 19% devaluation of the tenge. The
extension of the memoranda will help maintain
Putin and Nazarbayev launched on September 30 the price of bread until the grain of the new
the joint project Eurasia for ultra-deep well drilling harvest hits the market.
for hydrocarbon production, ITAR-TASS reported.
"The State Commission for Modernising
The project aims to discover hydrocarbons
the Kazakh Economy adopted a resolution
deposits at the depth of some 7-9 kilometres in
on September 10 to extend the duration of
the area of the Caspian Lowland. The well’s depth memoranda on measures to stabilise the price
is expected to reach 15 kilometres.
of a loaf made of wheat flour grade
2 and [the price of] flour grade 2,"
the grain operator said in a press
Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Energy Minister
release on September 30. "In order
Uzakbai Karabalin told the presidents that about
to avoid a sharp rise in the price of
80% of Kazakh hydrocarbons are concentrated
Putin, Nazarbayev launch
$500m Eurasia hydrocarbon
production project
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
the cheapest bread until satiating the domestic
market with flour of the new grain harvest, the
state commission decided to extend the duration
of the aforementioned memoranda.”
Page 15
extraction from the delayed Kashagan oilfield
could bring the country's oil production up to
100m tons a year by 20203.
Kazakhstan backs project on
wSamruk-Kazyna announces
oil expansion of Tengizchevroil
official launch of active phase of despite costs
People's IPO
On October 1, sovereign wealth fund SamrukKazyna officially confirmed that electricity
grid operator KEGOC has been included in the
programme called the “People's IPO”, which
looks to sell shares to the public in major state
enterprises.
Kazakhstan has supported implementation of the
Tengizchevroil (TCO) expansion project aimed at
increasing oil production despite its costs, said
Kazakh Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik on
October 8, reported Reuters.
'TCO's output is crucial to keep Kazakhstan's
oil output roughly unchanged at 81.8 million ton
this year and next before the giant Kashagan oil
project, shut due to gas leaks in its pipelines last
October, is restarted in 2016,' said Shkolnik.
“On approval of the Comprehensive Plan of
privatization for 2014 – 2016, it is planned to
place 10% minus 1 share of the total number of
authorized common shares of KEGOG JSC,” a
statement said. “The exact number of shares,
the offering price of a share and the structure
Birth rate goes up 25% in
of the offering will be announced just before the
subscription, which is scheduled for the first half
Kazakhstan over past decade
of November. The information will be published on
the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and in the
Kazakhstan has seen an increase in the birth rate
media.”
and decease in mortality rate, Tengrinews cited
the Director of the Center of Obstetric, Gynecology
and Perinatology of Almaty, Talgat Kudaibergenov,
Kazakh oil production could hit as saying.
100m tonnes a year by 2023
"Kazakhstan's oil production may hit 100m tons
a year by 2023," Energy Minister of Kazakhstan
Vladimir Shkolnik said at a sitting of the Majilis
ecology and natural resources management
committee, Kazinform reported.
According to Shkolnik , realization of the Tengiz
minefield extension project and steady oil
'The number of births is nearing 400,000 a year,
which certainly is a good thing. The demographic
situation in Kazakhstan is positive. While the birth
rate has been increasing, the death rate has been
decreasing. Over the past 10 years, the birth rate
has gone up by 25%,' Kudaibergenov said.
bne:Invest in Astana
October 2014
Page 16
Digital TV coverage in
Kazakhstan to make up 95% in
2 years
cost KZT74bn, the press service of the government
of Almaty region said following a meeting with the
representatives of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy NAC.
The government of Kazakhstan expects the
country will have 95% digital television coverage
in two years, said Minister for Investment and
Development Asset Issekeshev at the global forum
on e-Government, AKIpress reported.
Kazakh power grid firm to
implement 15 investment
projects until 2025
“The coverage of digital television by now is 51%
and by the end of the year we plan to reach 72%.
In two years we plan to achieve 95% coverage,”
Novosti-Kazakhstan cited Issekeshev as saying.
EXPO-2017 in Astana to bring
¤280m to Kazakhstan
EXPO-2017 that will take in Astana from June 10
to September 10, 2017 is expected to bring more
than ¤280m in profit to Kazakhstan, Tengrinews
quoted Chairman of Astana EXPO-2017 national
company that runs preparations for EXPO-2017,
Talgat Yermegiyayev, as saying.
“The (expected) revenue that we submitted in the
registration dossier exceeded ¤280m. This is our
business plan. This is the profit we will have from the
sponsors, ticket sales, our commercial activities. I
think we will make these ¤283m,” Yermegiyaev said
when reporting on the course of preparations for
the EXPO-2017 to an extended meeting of the Majilis
Committee for Environment and Nature.
Dry port construction in Almaty
region to cost KZT74bn
Construction of a dry port within the Khorgos - East
Gate special economic zone in Almaty region will
"Kazakhstan's Electricity Grid Operating Company
(KEGOC) will fulfill 15 investment projects until
2025 aimed at raising reliability and ensuring
energy independence of Kazakhstan," KEGOC CEO
Bakytzhan Kazhiyev said.
The company has a good practice of realizing large
investment projects worth $1bn with participation of the
world's leading financial institutions, the EBRD and WB.
Minister warns Kazakhstan is
cheap petrol source for transit
motorists
Kazakhstan has become a cheap gas station for
the entire Eurasian space, the first vice-minister
of energy Uzakbai Karabalin warned in October.
As such, subsidized petrol prices in Kazakhstan
should be increased in the nearest future.
"Do you know that currently the lowest price
for gasoline in the near and far surroundings of
30-40 countries is here in Kazakhstan? Today,
Kazakhstan, in fact, is the cheapest gas station for
the whole of Eurasia. Drivers moving though the
territory of Kazakhstan try to fill up fuel tanks in
Kazakhstan. At the present time KazMunaiGas on
behalf of the government purchases
petrol from abroad and sells it
cheaper at a loss. In my opinion,
the price for gasoline in Kazakhstan
should be increased," said Karabalin.