№ 5 (49), 2011 - KazEnergy

«Energy battle for Kazakhstan»?It was connected mainly to the fact thatover these years in the country there was remaineda stable political environment; U.S.companies, even if there were some problems(they were especially uncomfortable ofa high-level corruption, frequently changinglegislation and other interference), still reliablyreceived high profits. And the commonvector of political and economic cooperationbetween Kazakhstan and the United States(the same for the Republican or Democraticadministration in the White House) gave aclear signal to U.S. companies operating inthe energy sector, to preserve and expandthe investment cooperation.It is also important that from the start ofworking in the Kazakhstani market U.S.energy companies had not actually met anyparticular competition not from Russia, norEuropean partners, nor the neighboringCentral Asian influential powers (such asChina, Turkey or Iran). However, over thelast years, the situation of increased competitionin the Kazakhstani energy markethad created a lot of problems for U.S. companies,and in the future there will be moreand more.Kazakhstan's «Path to Europe»through «big power»?Another important investment contributorto Kazakhstan's energy sector is still EuropeanUnion.Leading European countries also activelyuse the expansion of economic cooperationand trade with Kazakhstan of all kinds - especiallyto strengthen its presence throughoutCentral Asia. In addition, the Europeantrade with Kazakhstan in terms of volumesgreater than analogous indicators of theother four countries of the region taken together.For Kazakhstan, the expansion of a diversecollaboration with the European Union, including- the energy sector, makes it possibleto rapidly implement defined by Astana atthe highest political level «Path to Europe».It means the modernization of the Kazakhstanstate with benchmarks to key Europeanvalues and «common rules of a game». And«big power» in this area provides the republicsubstantial assistance, and additionallymotivates the unified European leadershipin Brussels to forge tighter ties with Kazakhstanin all areas.The French and Italian energy companiesshow a special interest for the Kazakh energy.So, the French energy company «Total»has 16.8% of shares in an international consortiumthat develops the Kashagan oilfieldin the Caspian Sea. Due to the fact that, ingeneral, Kashagan is the largest oil field inthe world, opened over the last 30 years (andfrom the start of operation by 2015 oil productionin Kazakhstan will increase to 60million tons), the French and the ItaliansSeveral yearsago, thetotal amountof foreigninvestments intoKazakhstan'seconomyamounted to $97.6 billion, andthe lion's shareof these fundswent exclusivelyto the oil and gassector.KAZENERGY93