Kazakh-Romanian collaboration targets oil and gas sector

With about 8 billion tons of proven recoverable oil reserves, Kazakh companies are interested in identifying business opportunities to get the black gold to the Western Europe countries.

Dana Ciuraru

With Kazakh-Romanian trade volumes of USD 800 million in 2009, Kazakh companies’ interest in the Romanian market is increasing. KazMunaiGas is the Eurasian country’s most important company with significant operations on the local market after acquiring the majority share package in the Rompetrol Group in summer 2007. Rompetrol, the Kazakh-Romanian cooperation, was one of the topics discussed at the Kazakh Business Forum, event organized by Business review.

Romanian Center for Trade and Investment data shows that there are currently 35 Kazakh-Romanian joint ventures. Romania’s interest in increasing the number of foreign direct investments (FDI) from non-EU countries is high as currently some 65 percent of FDI in Romania comes within the European Union borders.

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Participating in the event, Saduokhas Meraliyev, Rompetrol Group CEO, addressed the opportunity of investing in Kazakhstan.

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a large landlocked country in Northern and Central Eurasia. Its territory is over 2.7 million sqkm and is bigger than that of the entire Western Europe. The population of the country in 2008 was estimated at just over 15.8 million people. Kazakhstan has enjoyed a steady growth of its GDP for the last five years with year-on-year increases of over 9 percent. It has about 8 billion tons of proven recoverable oil reserves. Industry analysts believe that planned expansion of oil production, together with the development of new fields, will enable the country to produce as many as 2 million barrels per day by 2015, taking the country into the world’s top ten oil producers.

The event, which gathered about 70 company officials, was sponsored by Rompetrol and PwC. More information can be found at www.business-review.ro.