The president of KazakhOil, Nurlan Kapparov, and the US Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Richard Jones, signed a USD 550,000 agreement in Astana on 16 March. This sum will be granted to KazakhOil by the US Agency for Trade and Development to draw up a feasibility study for upgrading the company's information technologies. The total value of the project is USD 775,000. The remaining funds will be provided by the US Sarkeys Energy Centre of Oklahoma University who will implement the job. According to KazakhOil's management, this project will "allow for creating a modern data base on explored and developed oil and gas reserves," using American information technologies. (Interfax)

Production at the Aksu Ferroalloy Plant (part of the transnational company Kazchrome) rose by 87.6% in January and by 55.6% in February 1999 compared with the corresponding periods of 1998. This information was released to Interfax by the plant's press service. According to the same source, the plant's sales, in monetary terms, increased 134% in January and 43.6% in February compared with January and February 1998. The Aksu Ferroalloy Plant has also developed an environmental programme whereby exhausts will be reduced by 27.5% in 1999 versus 1998. Environmental upgrades will cost KZT 608m (about USD 7m) in 1999 compared with KZT 449m last year. (Interfax)

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The Kazakhmys Corporation, Kazakhstan's giant copper producer, produced 54,000 tonnes of refined copper in January-February 1999, up 0.5% compared with the same period of 1998. The corporation plans an output of 350,000 tonnes for 1999. The plan, however, will depend on copper prices on the London Metals Exchange, said Kazakhmys' public relations manager, Vladislav Nikolaev. "When metal prices fall, we reduce costs. Increasing the production will help us to survive," he said. He added that the company intends to expand its ore base by developing the Zhilandinsky mine, a promising deposit in Central Kazakhstan. Nikolaev said that Kazakhmys has halved its costs over the last three years since the arrival of Samsung, its major investor. However, copper prices have also halved over the same period. The company is not making profits due to the "slow prices", but it doesn't have losses either. Its sales totalled KZT 7.5bn over the first two months of 1999, exceeding sales in the same period last year by 19.9%. (Reuters)

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JSC Aluminium of Kazakhstan produced 185,200 tonnes of alumina in January-February 1999, up compared with 174,600 tonnes in the first two months of last year. According to the company's director, Almaz Ibragimov, this rise was due to the improved efficiency which resulted from the introduction of new technological processes the company has developed jointly with Russia's Magnesium Institute. The company exports most of its product to Russia's smelters. (Golden Eagle Partners)

The Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan (HSBK) will apportion KZT 396,854,600 (about USD 4.6m)— 71.8% of the bank's profit in 1998—to pay dividends to its shareholders. The remaining 28.2% of the profit, or KZT 155,669,000, will replenish the bank's reserve fund. This decision was made at a general shareholders' meeting of HSBK held on 19 March. According to HSBK's Chairman, Karim Masimov, 82.9% of the total dividend will be distributed to the state, 5.7% to the Delta partnership (HSBK's local investor), and 11.4% to the bank's clients. The shareholders decided not to go ahead with their plans to make the 4^th issue of shares this year. (Interfax)

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TexaKaBank, one of Kazakhstan's private banks with foreign interest, has reported an increase in its net profit to KZT 135m (USD 1.55m) in 1998 from KZT 87m in 1997. This information was released to Interfax by the Deputy Chairman of the bank, Daniyar Amangildin. He said that the bank's shareholder equity increased by KZT 154m last year, and the announced authorised capital reached USD 6m, of which paid-in capital totalled USD 4.5m. As of 1 March, 1999, the bank's assets totalled KZT 1.592m and its liabilities— KZT 1.146m. Thanks to its positive results in 1998, TexaKaBank could afford a 25-50% reduction in its service tariffs in March. (Interfax)