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Gold/Mining/Energy : WWS.T World Wide Minerals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: traacs who wrote (591)	9/14/1998 5:02:00 PM
From: traacs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 784

Is THIS a source of money to repay WWS ? FOCUS-New deals breathe optimism into Kazakhstan 12:23 p.m. Sep 14, 1998 Eastern By Dmitry Solovyov ASTANA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan, still guaging the fallout of financial crisis in neighbouring Russia, scored major victories and billions of dollars in foreign investment promises on Monday. The Central Asian former Soviet republic secured around $500 million for treasury coffers when it signed a contract selling its share of a Caspian Sea offshore oil and gas consortium to U.S.-based Phillips Petroleum and Japan's Intex. The two companies each bought half of Kazakhstan's 14.3 percent stake in OKIOC (Offshore Kazakhstan International Operating Company). The money will go into the Kazakh budget within a month, and the first transfer is to be received on Tuesday. The money was modest compared to that invested in Kazakhstan in previous years, but was a relief for the vast steppe nation of 16 million in the shadow of the Russian crisis. Radiating smiles, President Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed his compatriots after the signing ceremony, saying that the money would finance urgent social needs. ''I pledge to all Kazakh citizens that this money will be spent on education, health service and construction of accomodation to improve the life of our people,'' he said. The finance ministry announced last week that due to revenue shortfalls it might cut the country's budget spending this year by 60 billion tenge ($750 million), instead of a 45 billion tenge reduction announced in August. Kazakhstan, suffering from low world prices for oil and metals, its main export exports, had originally planned to spend 314.5 billion tenge this year against revenues of 203.9 billion, with a budget deficit of 110.6 billion tenge, or 5.5 percent of gross domestic product. But Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan would see more investment growing from the Monday deal. In addition to buying a 7.14 percent stake in OKIOC, Phillips had committed to constructing a liquid gas plant in Kazakhstan worth roughly $500 million. ''Alongside the oil contract, Phillips has just confirmed its commitment to build a plant to produce liquid gas worth around $500 million,'' Nazarbayev said. A further $2 billion in direct Japanese investment in Kazakh industry was expected, Nazarbayev said. He added that Inpex had formed a consortium with Japan's Mitsui, Marubeni and Mitsubishi. The consortium would modernise Kazakhstan's Atyrau oil refinery, build a plant to produce plastics, and another to produce offshore drilling facilities, as well as the country's first aluminium smelter in the northern city of Pavlodar. Kazakhstan also expected to receive a soft loan from Japan worth around $1 billion. Nazarbayev said the annual interest on the 30-40 year credit would be between 0.75 and 2.20 percent, with a grace period of eight to 10 years. Neither Nazarbayev nor Balgimbayev said when the loan would begin or whether it would come from Japanese corporations or from the government. Nazarbayev said the signed deals showed investor confidence in Kazakhstan's ability to withstand the world financial crisis that has severely hit Russia. ''The country's leadership spares no effort to maintain stability in the economy and politics, and supporting foreign investors will be our permanent task,'' he said. OKIOC, which plans to start oil and gas exploration by the end of this year, unites Italy's Agip, British Gas International , an alliance of BP and Statoil as well as Mobil, Shell and Total. Phillips and Inpex bought the stake previously held by Kazakhstan Caspishelf, a subsidiary of the state oil firm Kazakhoil. --