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Press Release from Interfax Kazahkstan (March 2, 1999)

THE USA WILL ALLOT KAZAKHSTAN A GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF $500,000 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR A PROJECT FOR THE SUPPLY OF NATURAL GAS TO ASTANA

Astana, March 2nd INTERFAX KAZAKHSTAN: The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (U.S. TDA) will allot Kazakhstan a grant in the amount of $500,000 for the development of a feasibility study for a project for the supply of natural gas to Astana. In connection with this, the Minister of Energy, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Ablyazov and the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan, Richard Jones signed the grant agreement. “Interfax Kazakhstan” informed the press service of the aforementioned ministry about this.

According to the information from the press service, the general amount of the feasibility study is valued at $775,000.

$275,000 of this amount is to be granted by the American Company BSI Industries, Inc., which, in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, Industry, and Trade, will engage in the creation of the gas pipeline feasibility study.

At the present time, two variants are proposed: The first involves the construction of a pipeline that would extend 250 km from Russia to Petropavlovsk (North Kazakhstan Oblast) in conjunction with the utilization of the existing oil product pipeline “Petropavlovsk-Astana”. The second variant proposes the re-equipping of the existing oil product pipeline “Chelyabinsk-Petropavlovsk” and the use of the oil product pipeline “Petropavlovsk-Astana”.

According to R. Jones, the U.S.A. is the largest investor in Kazakhstan. Therefore, the signing of this grant agreement, in his words, is “yet another example of the U.S. Government’s and the American private sector’s interest in the successful economic development of Kazakhstan”.

One other grant agreement for $550,000 between the U. S. TDA and the National Oil and Gas Company “Kazakhoil” is proposed to be signed “in several weeks”. The grant is for the creation of an institutional and informational management base for the research and management of Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon resources.

In June of 1998 the press service of the Ministry of Energy, Industry, and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan informed that a grant agreement for $389,000 was signed between the U.S. TDA and the Atyrau Administration (Atyrau Oblast in west Kazakhstan) for research into the possibilities for the improvement of the Atyrau water supply. This project is part of the World Bank program for the development of the infrastructure.

R. Jones emphasized that “the continuing improvement of the investment climate, which is reflected in licensing, customs questions and the fulfillment of contract terms, will attract American investors in the long run, and this is the goal of the leadership of Kazakhstan.”