KAZAKHSTAN-CHINESE COOPERATION IN THE ENERGY SPHERE

Kalamkas ESIMOVA

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Kalamkas Esimova, Senior professor at the Gumilev Eurasian National University (Astana, Kazakhstan)

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Relations with the PRC is a priority area in our republic’s foreign policy. This is not just because we are neighbors, but also because Beijing has enormous economic potential, as well as immense influence on the international arena. China was among the first states to recognize Kazakhstan’s sovereignty. These countries began to develop multifaceted bilateral cooperation from the moment diplomatic ties were established in January 1992. Cooperation in the energy sphere began in 1997, when the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) became a shareholder of the Aktobemunaigaz Company (60.3%). (An agreement on cooperation in the oil and gas sphere was signed by the governments of both countries in September. At that time, the Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the CNPC signed a general agreement on developing fields in Kazakhstan and building an oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to China.)

Today, cooperation in the energy sphere is developing successfully and becoming the pivot of Kazakhstani-Chinese relations, which was emphasized in particular during Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s visit to the PRC in May 2004. But joint work in this area did not get off to a smooth start. Delays in laying the West Kazakhstan-West China oil pipeline kept economists and political scientists in a state of tension. Many forecasts of its prospects have been made over the years, but they were all very pessimistic, no one believed the route would ever come to fruition. Mainly because it is economically inefficient, and the Kazakhstan side will not be able to fully load the pipeline, which is too long anyway. The low quality of Kazakhstani oil, which requires additional refining, thus raising its net cost, was also among these pessimistic arguments. So many experts decided that the intentions to build this pipeline were merely a……………

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