[Goldfisch]

Kazakhstan Calls for Increased U.S. Investment to Help Bring More Oil to Market

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Kazakhstan has the oil resources to
help stabilize world oil prices, but needs increased investment to bring
transport capacity up to production capacity, the nation's minister of energy
said today at U.S.-Kazakh business conference here.
"We have invested billions of dollars over the years to develop and
upgrade our pipeline and transport system," said Minister of Energy Vladimir
Shkolnik. "Still, we need to improve our ability to move more oil from the
Caspian Sea to world markets, and that requires greater investment in this
infrastructure."
Kazakhstan has been dependent on Russian pipeline infrastructure to bring
oil to market, and is seeking to diversify its exports routes. That includes
the BTC pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan via Georgia and Turkey to the
Mediterranean as well as the Kazakhstan-China pipeline, both of which bypass
Russian territory.
Shkolnik then cited Kazakhstan's oil production outlook as follows:

-- In 2005, the country expects to produce 1.3 million barrels of oil a
day and 28.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

-- By 2010, those figures are expected to climb to 1.8 million barrels a
day and 52.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

-- By 2015, the Central Asian nation could produce 3 million barrels of
oil a day and 79.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, which
could make Kazakhstan the world's fifth largest oil producer.

Shkolnik reiterated his nation's commitment to observing strict
environmental standards for "extraction" industries such as oil, natural gas
and coal, which accounts for 80 percent of the country's electricity
production. He also said that Kazakhstan was dedicated to the peaceful use of
nuclear power as the third largest producer of uranium with 21 percent of
world uranium resources. With an annual production growth rate of 12 percent,
Kazakhstan may become the world's largest uranium producer by 2010.
The energy minister said that despite current high energy prices,
Kazakhstan was determined to diversify its economy to be less dependent on oil,
which accounts for about 27 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product.
Diversification efforts include the development of information technology,
pharmaceuticals, alternative energy sources, and other non-extraction
industries.
Shkolnik spoke at an economic investment conference title "2005 Kazakhstan
Industrial and Innovation Strategy: New Business Opportunities." First Deputy
Prime Minister Sauat Mynbayev, Talgat Ablygazin, Kazakhstan Transport &
Communications Deputy Prime Minister, and Gosman Amrin, chairman of the
Kazakhstan National Innovation Fund, participated in the conference, as did
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif), Paul Simons, deputy assistant secretary
of state, Eric Stewart, deputy assistant secretary of commerce and Jeffrey
Crowe, U.S. Chamber of Commerce chairman.

U.S. Contact: Jack Powell -- 262.327.0648 (j.powell@group-ibc.com)
European Contact: Anne-Celine Leh -- +33 142.964.600
(a-c.leh@group-ibc.com)