Kazakhstan News Roundup - July 14, 2008

news roundup

Kazakhstan News Roundup - July 14, 2008

By SRI ⋅ July 14, 2008 ⋅

energy:

KazMunaiGas interested in Oman’s stake in CPC
(SRI) - KazMunaiGas (KMG), the national oil company, has confirmed its interest in acquiring Oman’s stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline.

Kazmunaigas interested in Oman’s Kazakh ventures
(Reuters) - Kazakhstan, which is eyeing Oman’s stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), is also interested in the Arab Gulf state’s upstream Kazakh assets.

KazMunaiGas to drill at the Myortvy Kultuk block in the Caspian Sea
(SRI) - KazMunaiGas, the national oil company signed a contract with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to explore and develop the Myortvy Kultuk block in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea.

KazMunaiGas closing the deal on Mangistaumunaigas
(SRI) - KazMunaiGas (KMG), the national oil company, is purchasing a 51 percent stake in Mangistaumunaigas (MMG), an oil company, and planning to close the deal this year.

Russian-Kazakh joint venture to process Kazakh gas (RBC News)

Petrolinvest halves 2008 extraction target (Reuters)

EDB to finance construction of a third power unit at Ekibastuz GRES-2 (Interfax)

Kazakhstan appears among top five uranium producers (Interfax)

business and economy:

Kazakhstan H1 industrial production growth stalls
(Reuters) - Kazakhstan’s industrial production growth stalled in the first half of this year to 3.8 percent compared with 6.8 percent in the same period of 2007.

Kazakhstan gears up to tackle food crisis
(Xinhua) - Kazakhstan, a central Asian country that has also been severely affected by the worldwide food crisis, has put in place a series of significant measures to curb the skyrocketing food prices.

Kazakhstan’s defence industry: Development and partial conversion
(www.defsec.info - SRI) - Out of the 23 Kazakhstan defence companies, only 13 - 14 remain in the business, covering national, regional defence demands, the rest goes the way of conversion.

Kaztemirtrans, Kazmortransflot pool efforts to develop transport infrastructure (SRI)

Aktau sea port transshipped over 56.000 tonnes of grain during 6 months (AgriMarket.info)

National Bank of Kazakhstan: Exchange rates July 12-14, 2008 (Kazinform)

Indicators - July 11, 2008 (Reuters)

politics:

Convenient “suicide” removes key witness in Kazakh scandal
(RFE/RL - EurasiaNet) - eneral Zhomart Mazhrenov spent more than 25 years in the service of the Soviet KGB and Kazakh KNB. But on July 8, the general decided to end it all — and hang himself.

Kazakhstan to have modern precision weapons soon - defense minister (Interfax)

Russia, Kazakhstan to sign three-year war games deal (RIA Novosti)

UAE President to visit Kazakhstan Monday (WAM)

society:

New Kazakh media company bodes ill for independent press
(RFE/RL - EurasiaNet) - A new Kazakh media holding company, made up of outlets that support the government, has what’s left of the independent media more than a little worried.

Kazakhstan’s natural wonders under threat (CNN)