Kazakhstan's national oil company KazakhOil and the Japanese National Oil Corporation (JNOC) signed an agreement in Astana on 1 March 1999 to carry out geological and geophysical surveys in Kazakhstan. Under the terms of the agreement, the Japanese party will spend USD 50m during the next three years to prospect in three different areas in Kazakhstan. The President of KazakhOil, Nurlan Kapparov, said that in April 1999, USD 15m will be allocated to explore the north-eastern section of the Caspian shelf. Another USD 25m will be spent in 2000 to prospect for oil and gas in the Mangystau region, Western Kazakhstan. The remaining USD 10m has been earmarked for exploration in Kazakhstan's section of the Aral Sea. The project will be carried out by KazakhOil. (Reuters)

The Aksu Ferroalloy Plant, part of the transnational company Kazchrome, increased its output of ferroalloys in February to 56,734 tonnes, up 41.6% compared with the same period last year. This information was released to Reuters by the senior manager of Kazchrome Vladimir Bobir. He said that the plant faced problems last year both domestically and on the market. "This year, the situation with prices and demand is not good either, but we've managed to keep steady and increased the production," he said. Another plant, Ferrochrome, where Kazchrome has a 90% stake, produced 12,341 tonnes of commercial products in February. The output of the two plants in February 1999 exceeded by 63% their aggregate output in the corresponding period of 1998. (Reuters)

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The Zhairemsky Mining and Concentrating Plant, a producer of iron and manganese ore in Central Kazakhstan, and JSC Nosta, Russia's large steel producer, intend to establish a joint venture to produce manganese concentrate. According to a Russian source, the co-operation of the two companies will be mostly based on barter transactions. The Kazakh party will supply the manganese concentrate to Nosta. The latter in turn will ship equipment to Kazakhstan. (Interfax)

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Aluminium of Kazakhstan, based in Pavlodar in the north of Kazakhstan, has submitted to the KASE the minutes of its annual general shareholders meeting held on 1 February 1999. One of the key decisions at the meeting was that the company will start paying 10% dividends on the company's preferred shares for 1997 not later than 1 April 1999. The common shares will not pay dividend. The shareholders also decided to increase the authorised capital to KZT 5,834,810,776 (about USD 68m). To this end, the state will contribute assets worth of KZT 7,635,741 (USD 88,891). In this connection, the company will annul the third and fourth issues of shares and then it will make the fifth issue composed of 76,357 common shares. The shareholders approved the company's new charter. (Panorama)

The Shymkent-based bank Neftekhimbank has submitted its 1998 financial statement to the KASE. As of 1 January 1999, the bank had a net income of KZT 28,183,000 (USD 328,091). The bank bought 12,500 shares from its shareholders in 4Q98. As a result, the bank's capital decreased by KZT 8.60m as of 31 December 1998 (down 2.5% compared with 1997). The book value of one share decreased, accordingly, by KZT 80.71 or 2.5% compared to 1997. The bank's shares are traded on the Listing B board of the KASE. (IRBIS)