Category: Business news in Kazakhstan
Giant Kashagan oilfield to be launched by 2018
BUSINESS NEWS — Kazakhstan expects the second phase of its giant Kashagan oilfield to be launched by 2018 or 2019, with first oil now expected in June 2013, the vice oil and gas minister said on Wednesday. The start of the Kashagan project in the Caspian Sea, the biggest oil discovery since the 1960s, has [...]
Portuguese businessmen urged to enter Kazakh market
BUSINESS NEWS — Kazakh Ambassador Nurlan Danenov delivered a speech on the most important socio-economic achievements of Kazakhstan for 20 years. He called on the Portuguese companies to participate in Kazakhstan’s industrial innovative projects. Leadership of the Portuguese Industrial Association and Portuguese Agency for Foreign Trade and Investment expressed interest in establishing long-term relations between [...]
Biggest oil find in decades becomes $39 billion cautionary tale
BUSINESS NEWS — After 11 years and $39 billion of investment, Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and their partners have yet to sell a drop of oil from what was touted as the world’s biggest discovery in four decades. Centered on a man-made island 44 miles from Kazakhstan’s coast, the Kashagan project is just [...]
Foreigners Will Help Us With Money and Technology
BUSINESS NEWS — Kazakhstan wishes to reach a new level of cooperation with German companies in the area of mining and treatment of nickel, chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, coking coal and to organize the modern enterprise producing products with high added value, creating a hundred new jobs. National Export and Investment Agency KAZNEX INVEST in cooperation [...]
Vietnam considers Kazakhstan important partner in Central Asia
INTERVIEW — On the threshold of the state visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Vietnam Kazinform had an interview with President of Vietnam Truong Tan Sang. What is the agenda for the Nazarbayev’s visit to Vietnam? Is it planned to sign any documents? The first visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Vietnam opens [...]
Telecommunication market growing fast in Kazakhstan
BUSINESS NEWS — Today the Internet becomes a new driver at the telecommunication market in Kazakhstan, which actively moves the mobile communications from their positions. So, it was natural that in addition to the growth of quantitative and qualitative indicators of Kaznet, now we are observing the growing number of various disputes and conflicts, concerning [...]
Duke Business School Announces Partnership in Kazakhstan
BUSINESS NEWS — Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business has announced a partnership with the business school at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan. The first M.B.A. program is expected to begin in September. While the Fuqua school will be providing teaching staff, degrees will granted by Nazarbayev. Although President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s government has been criticized [...]
Kazkommertsbank got KZT19.3 billion funding
BUSINESS NEWS — Kazkommertsbank has received a third KZT19.3 billion ($130 million) tranche of government funding to finance stalled construction projects in Astana and Almaty, the bank said in a statement on Thursday. The funds will be used to fund residential construction by Global Building Contract (GBC), a joint venture between the state-owned holding and [...]
Toshiba and Kazatomprom Establish JV for Rare Metals
COMPANY NEWS — Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom and Japan’s Toshiba Corp. have established a joint venture to produce and market rare earth elements, Toshiba said in a statement on Thursday. Toshiba and Kazatomprom reached a basic agreement on establishing a JV in rare metals including rare earth elements in June 2010. The JV has now received all [...]
Mining and metallurgy key sector of Kazakhstans economy
INTERVIEW — The First vice-minister of industry and new technologies of the RK Mr. Albert Rau answers few questions. What is the role of the Mining and Metallurgy Sector in the FIID Program? As you know the main economic program initiated by the President of Kazakhstan is the Program of the Forced Industrial and Innovative [...]
Record harvest in Kazakhstan
BUSINESS NEWS — Kazakhstan harvested 18.3 million metric tonnes of grain as of September 19 on 11.6 million hectares, or 71.9% of the total area to be harvested, with the average yield of 1.57 tons a hectare, the Agriculture Ministry reported. Citing very favorable conditions, Minister of Agriculture Asylzhan Mamytbekov predicted that Kazakhstan could achieve [...]
Polpharma buying Kazakh pharmaceutical company
BUSINESS NEWS — Polish pharmaceutical company Polpharma is reportedly close to buying a majority stake in Chimpharm, one of Kazakhstan’s largest pharmaceutical producer, according to Polish business media. The two companies plan to sign the deal on September 20, Polish Puls Biznesu business daily reported last week. Chimpharm’s products are marketed in Kazakhstan under the [...]
Lukoil not interested on Kashagan
BUSINESS NEWS — Russia’s second largest oil company Lukoil has no interest in participating in the development of the giant Kashagan offshore field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, the company’s president told journalists last week. “We looked at the project in the beginning. It is very interesting from the technological point of [...]
China and Kazakhstan signed gas pipeline agreement
BUSINESS NEWS — China, the world’s biggest energy user, signed an accord with Kazakhstan to expand the capacity of a pipeline network delivering natural gas from Central Asia by more than 80 percent. The two governments agreed to build the Kazakh section of Pipeline “C” that will originate from Turkmenistan and cut through Uzbekistan, China [...]
South Korea investing on Kazakhstan
BUSINESS NEWS — South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is currently visiting Kazakhstan. In one result of Lee’s visit, South Korea and Kazakhstan have signed agreements for two $4 billion projects to build a thermal power plant and a petrochemical complex in the Central Asian nation. Under the terms of an inter-government agreement signed during President [...]
Kazakhstan retains crude export duty
BUSINESS NEWS — Kazakhstan is the largest oil producer in Central Asia. Now the country plans to retain its crude export duty at a maximum $40 per tonne until at least 2014, Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev said yesterday. “The issue of raising the export tariff will not be examined within the three-year budget,” Zhamishev told [...]
Caucasus and Central Asia: Armenia has Best Media Environment 2011
BUSINESS NEWS — It’s no secret that the Caucasus and Central Asia are inhospitable places for free speech and independent journalism. But a recent survey by IREX, an international organization that promotes civil society, found even countries that experienced so-called “color” revolutions have been unable to produce lasting, positive changes in their respective media environments. [...]
Fluor Awarded Caspian Pipeline Expansion Contract in Kazakhstan & Russia
COMPANY NEWS — Fluor Corporation announced that it has been awarded a contract by Chevron Neftegaz—one of three project managers engaged by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium—for its recently announced expansion project. Fluor will provide project services for the marine terminal and supervisory control and data system (SCADA) portions of the Caspian Pipeline Expansion project. The [...]
First laboratory on open-source cloudy computing research opened
TECHNOLOGY NEWS — Kazakhstan’s first laboratory on open-source cloudy computing research opened Tuesday in the International University of Information Technologies in the Kazakh South capital Almaty. The laboratory is the result of a joint initiative of Kazakh IT giant Zerde, Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and the International University of Information Technology (IUIT). According to the [...]
Caspian littoral states sign document to prevent oil spills at sea
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS — A Protocol Concerning Regional Preparedness, Response and Cooperation in Combating Oil Pollution Incidents was signed by official representatives of the Caspian littoral states in Aktau (formerly Shevchenko) the day before, ITAR TASS reported. The third session of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (Tehran [...]
Kar-Tel launches FTTB network in Ust-Kamenogorsk
BUSINESS NEWS — According to Telecompaper, Vimpelcom-owned Kazakh cellco KaR-Tel, which operates under the Beeline brand, has extended its burgeoning fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) network to Ust-Kamenogorsk (also known as Oskemen), the capital of the East Kazakhstan province. The city is probably best known as the location of a notorious uranium factory explosion in 1990, which resulted [...]
Kazakhstan over the next five years
INTERVIEW — Like in Russia, the main task of economic policy in Kazakhstan over the next five years will be the wide-scale privatization of state companies. Kayrat Kelimbetov, Kazakhstan’s minister for economic development and trade and one of the key economists in President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s team, spoke to Kommersant about how Astana intended to avoid [...]
Caspian region’s largest recoverable crude oil reserves in Kazakhstan
BUSINESS NEWS — Since 2000, Kazakhstan has experienced significant economic growth. Two of the main catalysts for this growth have been economic reform and foreign investment, much of which has been concentrated in the energy sector.The oil and gas industry of Kazakhstan occupies a significant position within the country’s industrial structure. Read full article (For [...]
Kazakhstan agriculture industry seeks foreign investment
BUSINESS NEWS — Since 2009 Kazakhstan’s policy in the sphere of agriculture has been directly linked to the Program of Accelerated Industrial Innovative Development and oriented to energy saving technologies, Kazakh Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov said at “Foreign investments in Kazakhstan: experience, goals and prospects” roundtable on Thursday in Almaty. The Minister noted “Kazakhstan [...]
Kazakhstan and Malaysia expanding cooperation
BUSINESS NEWS — Malaysia and Kazakhstan agreed to further expand and deepen bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas, including trade and investment, human capital development, education and Islamic banking. A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry here Friday night said both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in halal food production, construction, transportation, [...]
Kazakhstan Bank Boss Contender For The Hot Seat At The IMF
POLITICAL NEWS — Grigoriy Marchenko, chief of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, has emerged as a surprise contender for the hot seat at the International Monetary Fund. The previous head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, stepped down this week amid allegations he attacked a hotel maid in New York. The CIS Heads of Government Council put Marchenko’s candidacy [...]
Kazakhstan ready to invest in Asia with EBRD
BUSINESS NEWS — Kazakhstan is ready to invest in the Central Asian countries together with the EBRD, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Friday. “Kazakhstan is interested in participating in projects in other countries together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We are ready to work together to further develop the economies of our region,” [...]
Kazakhstan among 3 CIS countries most attractiv for investment
Almaty, Interfax-Kazakhstan – business news — According to 32% of participants of a survey conducted by Ernst & Young among investors, Kazakhstan is one of the three CIS countries most attractive for investment. 81% of the respondents believe their decision to invest in Kazakhstan was correct, with 76% considering their investment successful. However, both the [...]
Kazakh Sberbank selling $69M of Bonds
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Bloomberg)— Sberbank Kazakh unit plans to sell at least 10 billion tenge ($69 million) of subordinated debt in the second half of the year. “The bank may sell much more than 10 billion tenge,” Oleg Smirnov, the unit’s chief executive, said Tuesday in Almaty. The Sberbank unit raised 10 billion tenge through two [...]
Race on for Kazakh uranium
As global nuclear energy demand grows, countries possessing uranium reserves are poised to reap enormous economic and political dividends from production and export of this resource. Yet, the gains may come with costs as global rivalry accelerates among major powers, concurrently enhancing environmental, health, and proliferation risks of global and regional proportions. This struggle also [...]
GeoPark To Invest $10 Million in Kazakhstan Exploration Well
GEOPARK has reached an in-principle agreement to invest up to US$10 million in the drilling of an exploration well on the Sholkara prospect in the LGI-operated Block 8 in Kazakhstan, which would give GeoPark effectively a 25% participating interest in Block 8. The Sholkara prospect has an unrisked mean oil resource estimate of 100- 400 [...]
Kazakhstan Suspends Kashagan Development for Three Years
KAZAKHSTAN plans to suspend work on the main stage of the Kashagan project for three years, Gazeta.kz reports. “Kazakhstan plans to stop work on the giant Kashagan field for three years, since the international companies Shell and ExxonMobil intend to try to convince the government to support a simplified project which will cut their expenditures [...]
KazMunaiGas EP says Q1 crude output falls slightly
KAZMUNAIGAS Exploration Production RDGZ.KZ produced 0.3 percent less crude oil in the first quarter of 2011 than the same period last year due to weather-related power cuts, the company said on Friday, Reuters reported. London-listed KazMunaiGas EP, Kazakhstan’s second-largest oil producer, said crude oil output was 3.17 million tonnes, or 259,000 barrels per day, in [...]
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