Council of Foreign Investors

A working meeting of the heads of oil and gas companies-members of the Council of Foreign Investors under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the video conference format was held under the chairmanship of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. During the event, the issues of increasing the investment attractiveness of the country's oil and gas sector were considered.

The online meeting was attended by Royal Dutch Shell plc Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden, Chevron Executive Vice President for Production James Johnson, CNPC Vice President Huang Yun Zhang, Eni S. p.A Upstream Business Director Guido Brusco, ExxonMobil Global Projects President Neil Duffin, and Total E&P Vice President for the Caspian and Southern Europe Christine Healy.

After hearing a joint report on the elaboration of issues raised at the previous meeting of the Council in November 2020, the President of Kazakhstan noted significant progress. In this context, the Head of State made a number of important statements. In particular, he focused on the timely implementation of agreements on major oil and gas projects. The President noted that the Government and investors have come to a common understanding, and also pointed out the importance of ensuring their full implementation and making operational decisions on them.

"Despite the pandemic, the project of the future expansion of Tengiz is being implemented on schedule. The final investment decision on Karachagan field expansion project is another example of well-coordinated work. At the moment, we expect the adoption of a full-scale plan for the development of Kashagan," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.

At the same time, the Head of State drew attention to the government report, which presents new mechanisms for attracting investment, in particular, improving model contracts. In general, supporting these proposals, the President pointed out the need to carefully study all the details of the proposed approaches, which should ensure the legal protection and stability of investments, as well as, if necessary, investment preferences.

"Since all projects have their own specifics related to geology, distance from markets, types of oil, we need to avoid a "uniform approach". The government should classify projects by complexity and importance and, accordingly, determine the tools of regulation and support," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev believes. In this regard, he instructed the Government to submit an improved model contract for the next meeting of the working group.

"I have always stressed the importance of energy projects in creating domestic value, stimulating domestic technological and industrial development. Unfortunately, there has been little progress. We need new and bold steps" - the President instructed the Government together with companies to develop a Roadmap for technology transfer and localization.

The President focused on environmental issues, noting that Kazakhstan supported the request of oil and gas companies to eliminate discrimination in the application of fees for environmental pollution when burning gas in flares. At the same time, he pointed out that he expects investors to take decisive and practical actions to improve the environment in their regions of operation and reduce their carbon footprint.