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Kazakhstan could help meet India's energy needs
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 19:30 IST
CHENNAI: Oil and mineral-rich Kazakhstan has much to offer India, which is seeking to broaden its sources of fuel.
A Kazakh business delegation on a visit here said the former Soviet nation offered India a plethora of investment opportunities in the oil and gas sector and could even provide raw material for this country's nuclear power plants.
The Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of understanding with the
Indo-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce Friday night that envisages greater bilateral trade.
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is already in talks with Kazakhstan to take advantage of the country's huge oil and gas reserves, officials said.
Addressing Indian businessmen, Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Kazakhstan chairman Khamit Rakishev said his country produces 45 million tonnes of oil annually, of which nearly 30 million tonnes is exported. By 2015, Kazakhstan is expected to produce about 100 million tonnes of oil, he added.
At present British Petroleum, Chevron and some other MNCs have control over Kazakh oil, but this could change and ONGC could become another name on the nation's hydrocarbon map if the new bilateral initiative matures, officials said.
A landlocked country, Kazakhstan carries its oil to the world market through Turkish, Iranian and Chinese ports. The overland oil transport sector needs investment and India has a great opportunity to step in there, said Kazakh officials.
Pipelines for transporting oil and gas to the ports are also limited and Indian entrepreneurs have opportunity there too, they added.
Kazakhstan is a depository of rare earths and radioactive minerals like vanadium, uranium, molybdenum and tungsten and there are government-to-government talks on for India to import these to fuel its nuclear power reactors.
By 2020, India plans to produce 20,000 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power but the country faces Western non-cooperation in the import of dual-use minerals. So the government is now looking at Kazakhstan as a possible source of core fuel.
Incidentally, an Indian company is helping Kazakhstan produce wind energy.
"After Mongolia, Kazakhstan is the country that produces the best quality wind energy," said Raviprakash Khemka, president of the Indo-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce and chairman of NEPC India Pvt. Ltd.
Chennai-based NEPC produces the largest amount of alternative energy from wind power in India and is a big producer of wind generators and turbines. It is helping Kazakhstan to tap alternative sources to produce surplus energy, which the Central Asian nation sells to its neighbours.
Kazakh officials said their country is keen to learn from India's vast experience in manufacturing and processing leather as well as in textiles.
Besides, the Indian gems and jewellery, hospitality and pharmaceutical sectors are keenly eyeing the Kazakh market.
The present annual trade volume between India and Kazakhstan is $50 million, but officials said that could easily reach $250 million if the new trade and investment opportunities were tapped.