Tenders in major Kazakhstan oil and gas projects closed for local producers

Many of the key tenders in Kazakhstan’s major oil and gas projects are closed for local producers, Tengrinews.kz reports citing accountable secretary of Kazakhstan Oil and Gas Ministry Kanatbek Safinov as saying at the forum of oil and gas companies called Oil and Gas: Kazakhstan Content-2013.

“Why is local (Kazakhstan) content so small? That’s because of the restricted procurement tenders. This is especially true in case of our three major subsoil users: Karachaganak project, TCO and Kashagan projects. They frequently run their bids along special rules that often shut out our producers. We probably need to switch to the electronic format, so that there are no complaints from the producers and they clearly know the rules,” Kanatbek Safinov said.

He gave an example of Kashagan project that is still closed for the local producers.

“Closed tenders are frequently performed here under certain rules. They are practically inaccessible for our producers and the time has come to change this system,” Kanatbek Safinov added.

According to him, all companies of Samruk-Kazyna will switch to the electronic procurement by the end of 2013.

“The suppliers complain about unreasonable refusals to accept their bids, inadmission to the bids opening procedure, violation of placement periods, intentional extension of contract periods. The local plants are making a huge work and obtaining the required certificates but the (western) companies do not purchase from these plants,” Safinov said.

Tengrinews.kz