Not only Eni. All the activities of Italian companies in Kazakhstan
Economic relations with Kazakhstan are important for Italy, starting with those of Eni but not only. Here are the details
"Italy is following with great concern the serious events that are taking place in Kazakhstan, a country to which it is linked by friendly relations and a solid economic partnership", reads the note released by the Foreign Ministry on 6 January last, in following the outbreak of protests in Kazakhstan: riots triggered by the increase in LPG prices, but expression of a wider popular discontent with the authoritarian regime of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
THE ITALY-KAZAKHSTAN TRADE
In 2019, before the outbreak of the pandemic, Italian exports to Kazakhstan were worth 1088.3 million euros, up – albeit very slightly – compared to the previous year (1086.3 million euros). However, the coronavirus crisis has precipitated trade: in 2020 Italian exports amounted to 565.4 million (48 percent less than in 2019), and in the period January-September 2021 it reached 362.3 millions.
The most profitable sectors are those of domestic equipment (391.6 million euros in 2019), machinery (365.9 million), metallurgy (104.6) and clothing (64.4).
Italian imports from Kazakhstan, on the other hand, were worth 2110.5 million euros in 2019, before falling to 1262.5 million in 2020 and to 838.9 in the period January-September 2021. From Kazakhstan Italy imports mainly mineral products (for 1847 , 3 million euros in 2019) and metallurgical ones (209.1 million). Kazakhstan has important deposits of zinc (it is used in the processing of steel or for the formation of alloys such as brass) and uranium .
ITALIAN COMPANIES IN KAZAKHSTAN
The Republic defines Italy as Kazakhstan's “first partner” among the countries of the European Union, mentioning the presence of companies such as Technogym, which produces sports equipment, and Il Vetro dei Dogi, a Venetian company that makes glass objects.
According to the statistics of Kazakhstan, since 2018 Italy has been the first destination for Kazakh exports and is in third place in the ranking on trade exchange, after Russia and China. According to the latest data available from the ICE, in 2019 Italian investments in Kazakhstan amounted to 671 million euros: driving them was the oil & gas sector.
Among the Italian companies present in Kazakhstan there are Ferrero, Iveco, Saipem, Maire Tecnimont and Valvitalia (technologies for energy plants), Tenaris (pipes for the oil industry), Medexport Italia (pharmaceuticals).
WHAT ENI DOES
Eni has also operated in Kazakhstan (since 1992), both in the hydrocarbon and renewable energy sectors. In 2020 it produced 40 million barrels of oil and condensates and 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas. In the same year, the company had 48 megawatts of installed wind capacity and 50 MW of solar capacity in Kazakhstan.
As for fossil resources, Eni is active in the onshore Karachaganak field, which last year produced 239 thousand barrels per day of liquid hydrocarbons and 27 million cubic meters per day of natural gas. The liquids extracted in Karachaganak are mainly destined for sale through the Caspian gas pipeline and the Atyrau-Samara pipeline, linked to the Russian export systems. Half of the gas produced, on the other hand, is sold to the Orenburg plant in Russia.
In 2018 Eni also became the operator of the Isatay offshore block, together with the Kazakh state energy company KazMunayGas. In 2019, the two companies signed an agreement on the exploration of fossil resources in the Abay block in the Caspian Sea.
With regard to renewables, in Kazakhstan Eni owns the onshore wind farm of Badamsha, with a capacity of 48 MW. A second wind plant is also being built in the Badamsha region and a 50 MW photovoltaic solar park by Shaulder, in the southern part of the country.
Last July Eni and KazMunayGas signed agreements for the development of projects on renewables, hydrogen and biofuels.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/kazakistan-italia-commercio-interessi/ on Mon, 10 Jan 2022 09:39:27 +0000.