Oil and gas projects account for greatest foreign investment in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan's State Statistics Committee said on July 30 that oil and gas projects had accounted for the vast majority
of foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan's economy in the first quarter of this year. Of the total $ 1.193 bn
pumped into Kazakhstan by foreign investors, the committee said, $ 1.001 bn, or 83.9 % of the total, went to the oil
and gas sector.
The committee also noted that US companies had accounted for 59.9 % of all capital investments made in Kazakhstan in
the first quarter of 2001, or about $ 714.607 mm worth of investment. Next on the list were British companies, with
8.3 % or $ 99.019 mm in investments, and Canadian companies, with 8.1 % or $ 96.633 mm.
The Kazakhstani Investment Promotion Centre (KIPC) said that the country's oil and gas industry had attracted a total
of $ 2.91 bn worth of investments in 2000. The centre also noted that Kazakhstan hoped to attract some $ 70 bn worth
of investment into the oil and gas industry over the next 10 years. If the amount of money invested in the oil and
gas sector reaches $ 10-12 bn per year, Kazakhstan may be able to achieve its goal of boosting crude oil and gas
condensate output from the present level of about 35 mm tpy to 100 mm tpy.
Also last month, Deputy Energy Minister Bolat Yelemanov noted that 87 % of all investment commitments made in
Kazakhstan last year had gone to the oil and gas sector. US firms invested a total of $ 1.2 bn in the country in
2000, he added.
