Kazakh PM and ExxonMobil Senior Vice President discuss Tengiz and Kashagan further development issues

On Wednesday, October 4, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held a meeting with John Whelan, the Senior Vice President, ExxonMobil Upstream, Kazinform learnt from the Prime Minister’s press service.

The parties discussed the implementation of the projects for future expansion and wellhead pressure management  at the Tengiz field, plans for further development of the Kashagan field, liquefied petroleum gas supplies to the domestic market and construction of a gas separation complex.

Prime Minister emphasized that the increase of local content in major oil and gas projects is one of the key factors for the development of basic sectors of the economy. In this regard, he called for strengthening interaction with local manufacturers interested in producing products for the needs of operators.

"This will make it possible to close the need for a number of positions of oil and gas engineering goods, which are currently imported," Alikhan Smailov said.

In general, the Prime Minister noted that the Government is always open to a constructive dialog with the company within the framework of implementation of joint plans.

In turn, John Whelan reminded that ExxonMobil was one of the first foreign international oil companies to open a representative office in Kazakhstan.

"To date, we have invested more than $28 billion in Kazakhstan, which makes us one of the largest foreign investors. As a long-standing partner in major projects such as Kashagan, Tengiz and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, we look forward to further strengthening our bilateral ties and strategic partnership," he said.