OREANDA-NEWS. April 19, 2013. Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov has visited the Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field to receive updates on the performance of Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO) as part of a working visit to the Western Kazakhstan Oblast.

The head of the RoK Government was accompanied by the Akim of Western Kazakhstan Oblast (WKO) Nurlan Nogayev, Minister of Oil and Gas Sauat Mynbayev, Minister of Transport and Communications, Askar Zhumagaliyev, Minister of Finance, Bolat Zhamishev, Head of KazMunaiGas Lyazzat Kiinov and other RoK authorities.

During their visit the high-ranking officials were acquainted with the Karachaganak project activities and KPO’s contribution to the social and economic development of the WKO.

As KPO General Director, Damiano RATTI noted in his speech, “the success of Karachaganak has become possible due to strong collaborative partnerships between the Republic of Kazakhstan, local community and Karachaganak Partners”.

“As of today, KPO’s partners have invested more than USD17 billion into the development of Karachaganak whilst direct payments into the RoK budget have reached USD 8.8 billion”, said Damiano RATTI.

“In developing the Karachaganak project, KPO has utilised leading production and hydrocarbon processing technology to enhance hydrocarbon recovery and ensure maximum economic return for the Republic of Kazakhstan and the project partners”, he added.

Damiano RATTI noted that over the last years, KPO has formed long-term partnerships with many Kazakhstani enterprises.

“The use of Kazakhstan’s goods and services is central to the way we work at KPO.  It also positively impacts the development of national and regional economies”, he added.

As is well known, KPO is one of the first companies in Kazakhstan to successfully introduce a Local Content Development Programme.  Its implementation has allowed involving more than three thousand Kazakhstani companies into the development of Karachaganak.  These companies have received orders from KPO for over USD 4 billion.

As the result of the partnership, a large number of new schools, kindergartens, hospitals, as well as social and community-purpose buildings were constructed in recent years.  Hundreds of kilometres of roads were also laid.  As of today, KPO’s investments into development of WKO social infrastructure have totaled over USD 240 million.

As the largest employer in the region, KPO is fulfilling its obligations for the protection of employees’ health and for the creation of long-term jobs with highly competitive salaries.

Currently, national personnel of KPO occupy 69 per cent of managerial and 95% of all supervisory and technical positions.  As a result of KPO’s nationalisation programme aimed at to substituting expatriate employees with local professionals, today, local specialists make up 93% of total KPO staff.

During the meeting the Prime Minister was briefed about the on-going discussions of the next stage of the Karachaganak Field development. The relevant authorities were instructed to carefully review all options for the future Project expansion and to work with KPO towards increasing the number of Kazakh nationals among the Venture’s management.

Having familiarised with the results of KPO’s performance, the Prime Minister also went on a short tour of one of the key production facilities - Karachaganak Processing Complex (KPC).

At the end of the visit, the guests expressed their satisfaction with KPO achievements in the development of the field, and wished all KPO employees continued success in their activities.