British PM calls for oil cooperation with Kazakhstan

British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to step up oil and gas cooperation with Kazakhstan during his first official visit to that Central Asian country. Cameron told the Kazakh-British business forum that he would like to fix cooperation with Kazakhstan in order to continue working together in future. He also wished that British companies could apply their experience gained in the Northern Sea while working in the Kazakh part of the Caspian Sea jointly with Kazakh partners. In this connection, the British premier noted the Kashagan offshore oil field project in which the British Shell is taking part alongside with other international companies. The Kashagan field is located in the northern Kazakh section of the Caspian Sea. According to Cameron, around 40-50 billion dollars were invested in the project at the experimental stage and the investments are to increase fourfold or fivefold to ensure that the project is completed. For his part, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that the almost one-billion dollar agreement signed during Cameron’s visit was just the beginning. He added that the two sides needed machines for extraction and refining of oil and gas and invited British businessmen who were present at the forum to participate in ambitious projects, which Kazakhstan’s strategic development projects until 2050. A release issued by the Kazakh president’s press service says that the British prime minister’s visit to Kazakhstan, the first in the history of the two countries, “will strengthen bilateral relations, promote a political dialogue and expand the spheres of economic interaction.”