Global Oil & Gas Atyrau 2017: it is too early to talk about the ‘end of the oil era’

From 11th to 13th April 2017 the largest event of the oil and gas industry – the ‘Global Oil & Gas Atyrau 2017’ North Caspian Regional Exhibition was held in Atyrau city.

The opening delegation included the following people: Akim of Atyrau Oblast Mr. Nurlan Nogayev, Deputy Chairman of ‘KAZENERGY’ association Mr. Uzakbay Karabalin, Consul General of Germany Mr. Jorn Rosenberg, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr. Alexander Yakovlev, General Director (Chairman of the Board) of the ‘Atyrau Oil Refinery’ LLP Mr. Galimzhan Amanturlin, Deputy Director General for Production of ‘Embamunaygas’ JSC Mr. Aybolat Gabdullin, Entrepreneur and shareholder of ‘Anako’, ‘Atyrauneftemash’, ‘Zaman Energo’, ‘Sagat Energy’ and ‘Belkamit’ companies Mr. Sagat Tugelbayev as well as representatives of diplomatic missions and organizers of the exhibition.

The main share among the participants was represented by local companies which accounted for 61% of the total number of exhibitors. This year the organizers also noted a 30% increase in the number of exhibitors. This trend demonstrates not only the significance of the event itself but also the positive state of the market.

The exposition was held in the new Exhibition Centre of Atyrau city provided by ‘ABS Modular Limited’ LLP. This site meets international technical requirements and has got the entire necessary infrastructure. The move to the new location was made due to technical requirements of the exhibitors: thus the design solutions of the centre allowed placing large-sized machinery on a specialized site outside the pavilion and equipment inside the building as well as conducting presentations and seminars in a specially equipped area.

All of these factors certainly affected the attendance rates of the exhibition that were amongst the key indicators of its successful course. In 2017 the total number of unique visitors equaled 1660 people showing a significant increase from the year before.

One of the highlights of the exhibition was the presentation given by the golden partner ‘Global Oil & Gas Atyrau’, ‘North Caspian Operating Company’ consortium (NCOC) on sustainable development throughout 2016 which represents an annual non-financial report with an overview of the performance indicators in areas of economic growth, social development and environmental protection. Speaking about the environmental aspect of its activities the company reported that in 2016 there were zero spills with a volume of more than one barrel.

During the course of the Global Oil & Gas Atyrau-2017 exhibition the IV International Investment Forum ‘Atyrau Invest-2017’ was held from 11th to 12th of April, which was attended by more than 500 business representatives, potential investor companies, national companies, development institutions and governmental bodies, participants from countries of near and far abroad as well as representatives of diplomatic missions.

NCOC Managing Director Mr. Bruno Jardin delivered a speech on the achievements at the Kashagan project in 2016:

- We have replaced the pipeline system and issued the first oil shipment in early October. We plan to increase the daily production up to 370,000 barrels.

He also said that the ‘North Caspian Project’ had a significant impact on the economy through the creation of jobs for specialists in Kazakhstan and provision of opportunities for local companies. As of the end of 2016 the total amount of payments from 2014 for local content in goods, works and services amounted to more than 13,3 billion US dollars.

Deputy Chairman of the ‘KAZENERGY’ association, member of the ‘KazMunayGas’ NC JSC Board of Directors Mr. Uzakbay Karabalin in his ‘Challenges and prospects of the oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan’ report was skeptical concerning the experts’ forecast on the ‘end of the oil era’:

- Simplified patterns cannot be applied to the oil and gas industry since it is the quintessence of various sciences and modern processes at the level of higher mathematics, nuclear physics and materials science. In fact, the oil and gas industry is a prototype of the cluster development model.

He also highlighted the growing demand for polymers and other petrochemical products which by the year 2040 will amount to 1 billion tons per year that is doubling from current consumption volumes. According to his conclusion the current situation in the oil products market has stabilised:

- In one way or another oil remains a highly demanded commodity. I believe that its price will be fixed at the level of 50-60 US dollars per barrel.

The ‘Global Oil & Gas Atyrau’ exhibition is not only an effective tool for sales and promotion of goods and services for domestic producers but also a unique opportunity to attract international investment for the development of the Caspian region. More than 100 companies from Azerbaijan, Germany, Denmark, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, the Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Russia, USA, Turkey, Ukraine, Croatia and Switzerland participated in the exhibition.

‘Global Oil & Gas Atyrau’ exhibition is held with the constant support of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Akimat of Atyrau region, ‘KazMunayGas’ NC JSC, ‘RD’ KazMunayGas’ JSC, ‘Embamunaigas’ JSC, the ‘KAZSERVICE’ union of Service companies and diplomatic missions of the participating countries.