Privatization and foreign investment in the principal oil enterprises and in the refineries

Of all Kazakhstan’s mineral sectors, the petroleum sector has attracted by far the most foreign investment. Of the nearly $13 billion in foreign investment in the decade from 1992-2001 (see Figure 5.2), almost 50 percent was in the oil and gas sectors (Olcott 2002: 10-11). Although a significant percentage of this was for exploration and development of new fields, like Kashagan under the Caspian Sea (by all accounts the largest single find in the last 30 years), and new pipelines, like the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) pipeline from the Caspian (Atyrau) to the Black Sea (Novorossiysk), a substantial amount has been investment in existing production fields. The five main production associations at the time of independence were Aktyubinskneft, Embaneft, Mangistaumunaigaz, Tengizneftegaz, and Yuzhneftegaz.1 Today there are six enterprises, Aktobemunaigaz, Kazakhoil-Emba (comprised of Embamunaigaz and some of Tengizneftegaz), Mangistaumunaigaz (minus Uzen), Tengizchevroil (most of Tengizneftegaz), Uzenmunaigaz (separated from Mangistaumunaigaz), and Hurricane Kumkol Munai (formerly Yuzhneftegaz). In 1992, they accounted for more than 75 percent of oil production in Kazakhstan (Sagers 1994). In 2001, they accounted for nearly 80 percent of the total while in 2002 their contribution was just 74 percent (see Figures 9.2 and 9.3 below).