KazMunaiGaz National Co., a Kazakh state-owned energy company, is seeking to borrow as much as $2 billion this year and is considering a share sale within three years as it bids to join the world’s leading oil producers, the company reported on its website. KazMunaiGaz plans to invest $4.3 billion this year in production, refining and pipelines, and refinance existing debt, Ardak Kassymbek, general manager for corporate strategy and asset management, said today in a phone interview from Astana. The capital markets offer a “favorable situation” as KazMunaiGaz’s outstanding bonds trade with a yield of about 5.5 percent, Kassymbek said.
KazMunaiGaz, which accounts for about a quarter of Kazakhstan’s oil output, plans to become one of the world’s 30 biggest oil producers by 2015. The company aims to produce 25 million metric tons of oil by that time from 18.7 million tons last year. The central Asian nation holds 3.2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, according to BP Plc. The borrowing would help cover $1.2 billion of spending planned this year for Kashagan, the country’s biggest oil field, Kassymbek said. Kazakhstan plans to boost oil output to 100 million tons by 2015 after bring the field online. KazMunaiGaz is equal partners in Kashagan with Eni SpA, Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA, each holding 16.8 percent.
KazMunaiGaz also plans to invest $300 million at its Atyrau refinery and $200 million to upgrade Rompetrol, Kassymbek said. Kazakhstan’s National Wellbeing Fund Samruk-Kazyna, which owns KazMunaiGaz for the state, has considered selling shares in the oil producer in the next two or three years, Kassymbek said. “An IPO would be an optimal solution for the company to raise additional capital,” although requiring significant work, he said. In the next five years, KazMunaiGaz plans to invest as much as $4 billion a year, including from $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion a year for the Kashagan development, Kassymbek said.
