Kazakhstan in world news: july to august, 2007

Oil and Gas
Petkim Sale defended
Bloomberg (July 17, 2007)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended the sale of state chemicals maker - Petkim Petrokimya Holding to a Kazakhstani company, the Turkish newspaper Milliyet said Monday…Erdogan said in a television interview that the price that TransCentralAsia Petrochemical Holding agreed to pay for Petkim was well above the company's market value, and rejected criticism that the buyers did not provide enough information about their company, Milliyet said.

Pantech exploring New Markets in Central Asia and Middle East
Malaysia Star (August 12, 2007)
Petroleum – из The Pantech Group Holdings Bhd, a pipes, fittings and flow controls specialist, plans to participate in oil and gas exhibitions overseas, to explore potential markets in Central Asia and Middle East….Pantech executive chairman, Jimmy Chew, said the company planned to participate in the Kazakhstan Oil and Gas exhibition in October and Arab Oil and Gas exhibition in December….»We have received good leads from our previous participation in the Oil and Gas Asia exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur last June, and we are now confident that our participation in Kazakhstan and Arab exhibitions will be equally fruitful,» he said after the company's annual general meeting Friday

Eni SpA Face-Off continues
Wall Street Journal (August 8, 2007)
In 1997, Italy's Eni SpA entered an agreement with Kazakhstan to operate Kashagan. Under the deal, Eni would recover its costs from the Kashagan revenue before having to start sharing large portions of their income with the government….Since then, the oil prices have skyrocketed and the deal appears far less advantageous to Kazakhstan. The project has been beset by technical difficulties and rising procurement costs, and now Kazakhstani officials are crying foul - and threatening to fire Eni….As Guy Chazan reports, the prime minister said Tuesday that his government might remove Eni as operator of Kashagan, which is key to the Central Asian nation's ambitions to become one of the world's top 10 crude exporters….Karim Massimov's comments signify intensifying brinkmanship ahead of a face-off later this week between the government and the Eni-led consortium developing Kashagan….Oil-industry observers and regional insiders have said the Kazakhstani authorities aren't likely to take the extreme step of firing Eni as operator because of the project's complexities. But they will probably demand a bigger and possibly earlier take from revenue….Mr. Massimov was careful to note that despite its quarrel with Eni, Kazakhstan remains open for business.

Energy Industry
Ecologists protest Westinghouse Kazatomprom deal
MSNBC (July 23, 2007)
Four international environmentalist groups have appealed to the US government to block the proposed sale of 10 percent of Westinghouse Electric, the US nuclear systems company, to Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan's state atomic energy agency, warning that the deal would empower the potentially unstable central Asian republic to produce nuclear weapons….Kazatomprom, one of the world's leading uranium producers, is negotiating to acquire the Westinghouse stake for about $540 million, as part of its strategy to transform itself into a global company involved in all aspects of the nuclear power generation cycle….Toshiba, which took control of Westinghouse last year, hopes to use the share sale to Kazatomprom to improve its access to uranium supplies ….In a letter to the US Committee on Foreign Investment, Greenpeace, Essential Action, Knowledge Ecology International and Essential Action, said, «We oppose the transaction on the grounds that the sale will undermine efforts to limit nuclear proliferation, and will give sensitive nuclear technology to a brutal, repressive and undemocratic regime, which may lack long-term legitimacy and stability»….Kazakhstan, the most prosperous and politically stable republic in central Asia, has been a close political ally of the US since the 1990s when it voluntarily surrendered its huge Soviet-era nuclear arsenal and invited US companies to help tap oilfields ….Those ties have so far muted criticism's poor record on human rights and democracy….The environmentalists said widespread corruption could pose a threat to the security of nuclear materials, citing reports of black market sales of nuclear technologies in the republic….CFIUS approved Toshiba's takeover of Westinghouse in June 2006 after a standard 30-day review. …The panel is not expected to investigate Toshiba's proposed sale to Kazatomprom, because the transaction does not involve a change in control of Westinghouse or its board….However, the deal will be subject to strict US export control rules, which are meant to monitor and prevent the transfer of sensitive materials to foreign governments.