№ 5 (49), 2011 - KazEnergy

expert opinionKazakhstanwould covervolumes of oilsupplies to thewestern regionsof China forSaudi Arabia andthe UAE.88 № 5 (49), 2011the markets, which have the most favorablegeographical location both to the region ofCentral Asia and the Arabian Gulf.So, with benefit for itself Kazakhstan wouldcover volumes of oil supplies to the westernregions of China for Saudi Arabia and theUAE. And the Arab Gulf countries could noless successfully promote and supply Kazakhoil quota to markets of many Africanstates as well as South-Eastern Asia countries,India and Pakistan.There is a good chance for Kazakhstan tostrengthen cooperation on gas suppliesto world markets with Qatar - one of theworld's key exporters of liquefied naturalgas. This is especially actual due to the factthat Kazakhstan is one of the key players onthe gas market of western China that potentiallywill be of interest for Qatar in the caseof laying the Trans - Asia gas pipeline fromthe Arabian Gulf region, Iran and Pakistanto the Caspian Sea and Central Asia.By the way, Kazakhstan has successfullydeveloped such collaboration on "mutualexchange basis" with another state,overlooking the Arabian (Persian) Gulf - Iran.Kazakhstan's oil is sold by Iran to nearbymarkets, while the same amount of oilKazakhstan in return to Iranian suppliessales in China markets, as well as to Europeancustomers.For Kazakhstan the expansion of energy cooperationwith Iran would be one of the importantcomponents of foreign trade policyfor today. But here Astana will have to considera hard struggle for spheres of both politicaland economic influence, which is ledby the two largest countries in the region -Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.Kazakhstani leadership should bear in mindthat Riyadh and Tehran – are unapologeticrivals of the region, and the observance offine political balance in the Gulf for Astanais of paramount importance.Such consideration of the interests in theArabian Gulf region Kazakhstan shouldabide for the reason that there are stilltense relations between Iran and the UnitedStates (Astana has established very closeties with them not only in "big politics", butalso in energy industry) . Besides, consideringthe obviously incomplete "revolutionaryprocesses» of so-called "Arab spring", consequencesof which may still very ambiguouseffect on the entire state of global energymarkets.Investments from the Arab Gulf countries tothe energy sector of Kazakhstan - and why not?Investment area is of particular interest infurther expansion of cooperation betweenKazakhstan and the monarchies of the ArabianGulf. It's no secret that, immediatelyafter the collapsion of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstanhad to urgently seek the externalsources of financing for a wide range of energyprojects, and for keeping mining andtransportation infrastructure in good condition.The largest U.S. energy companies were thefirst to come to Kazakhstani energy market,and today the American capital remains akey one in the energy complex of the republic(the total amount of the U.S. investments toKazakhstan is over 11 billion U.S. dollars).Such American companies as "Chevron","ConocoPhillips" and others have createdin Kazakhstan successfully operating jointventures, and they are intended to work inthe Kazakh energy market for the long term.At the same time European companies havesignificantly activated in the Kazakh energymarket. They invest money less than Americans,but it is worth considering at the sametime that more than 40 percent of all invest-