Gulf Finance House unveils energy city in Kazakhstan

 
Gulf Finance House (GFH), a specialist in innovative economic infrastructure initiatives, in collaboration with the Government of Kazakhstan and PFC Energy International, on Thursday announced plans for the latest project in its “Energy City” series – The Caspian Energy Hub (CEH), Kazakhstan.

With an estimated total investment value of $10 billion (Dh36.7bn), this project marks the entry of GFH and its clients into Kazakhstan, and represents one of the largest foreign investments into the country.

The concept was presented to Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev yesterday by the GFH Chairman Esam Janahi, and the President and CEO of PFC Energy International, Vahan Zanoyan. Located in Aktau on the shore of Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea, the proposed CEH Kazakhstan will represent the latest in a series of energy focused business clusters that GFH has planned across the Middle East and Asia. 

 

Capitalising on prodigious natural resources and a strong economy, the project aims to contribute to the overall economic and human capital development of Kazakhstan by creating a services hub that caters to every commercial, technical and human resource need of the oil and gas industry in the Caspian region.

CEH Kazakhstan also aims to become a major global technical training centre for the oil and gas industry. It is expected that the hub would play a significant role in supporting the government’s plans to double oil production and triple natural gas output by 2015, GFH said in a statement.

The hub will comprise a specialised technical college; a science and technology park; a geophysical data laboratory; advanced technical training facilities; an information technology development centre; an environmental research centre and a renewable energy centre.

Nazarbayev said: “The Caspian Energy Hub is an important and integral part of the socio-economic development of Kazakhstan. We have the vision, the will, and the knowledge base to implement an industrial, service, research and educational center of excellence that will attract the biggest names in world energy.”

Janahi said: “There are rich growth prospects in the Caspian region and Kazakhstan has a unique opportunity to deliver an unrivalled hub for the hydrocarbons industry. We applaud the vision of President Nazarbayev and the Kazakh Government, and look forward to working with them to inject a new impetus and sustained long-term growth into the economy.”