Gazprom’s gas supplies to Kazakhstan on the rise

Aleksei Miller, Russia’s GazProm Chairman of the Board, met Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Russia Zautbek Turisbekov on Tuesday, according to Interfax-Kazakhstan. During the talks the sides noted that GazProm’s gas supplies to Kazakhstan in 2011 had grown by 10% as compared to 2010 and there was a substantial potential for the supplies to further augment, the joint statement reads. The sides also broached the subject of expanding Russian-Kazakh cooperation in geological exploration, production, transportation and processing of hydrocarbons against the backdrop of the Common Economic Space [of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus] launched January 1, 2012. The sides agreed that the Common Economic Space had opened wider opportunities for a more large-scaled energy partnership of the member states and serves strategic interests of the sides, the statement reads. Russia's Gazprom is one of the world’s largest energy companies. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and marketing of hydrocarbons as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.