Transcripts
Press Conference given by Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland and Tengizchevroil CEO Todd Levy in Atyrau
Richard E. Hoagland
Ambassador to Kazakhstan
Tengizchevroil CEO Todd Levy
Atyrau Lyceum
November 12, 2008
Moderator: This press conference is dedicated to the visit of the Ambassador of the United States of America to our city.
Ambassador Hoagland: Before we start, I just want to say a couple of words.
First, thank to the Akimat, thank you to the leaders of this school for welcoming me today. As the new American Ambassador to Kazakhstan, and I’ve only been here for two months, this is an important visit for me to Atyrau.
As an Ambassador, if I want to understand Kazakhstan and help build a very strong relationship with the United States, I cannot stay in my embassy in Astana all the time. So I need to travel to places like Atyrau to understand the entire country, and to feel for myself and to listen very carefully what is Kazakhstan.
In the last two days I have visited Tengizchevroil and Kashagan. I think these are extraordinarily important investments because they are good citizens, good corporate citizens for this region and for all of Kazakhstan. They create jobs. They purchase materials from Kazakhstan. And, extremely important, they are good corporate citizens and they sponsor education projects, for example, like this one.
That’s enough from me. I want to hear your questions, and I will try to answer as openly as possible.
Question: I’m from Khabar. Taking the opportunity that Mr. Todd Levy is here, I would like to ask that according to the completion of AGI/AGP projects in Tengiz, about 14,000 people are demobilized. How are these issues being solved, and were these issues discussed during the visit of Mr. Ambassador?
Mr. Levy: This is an important issue for us, that as we complete – during the project we employed a great many citizens and trained them in important vocations. So as we completed the project it was critical for us to make sure that those skills got transferred over into other projects. So we’ve really focused on firstly, bringing as many of those people into TCO as possible, bringing them onto other projects, and then making sure that we document and communicate those skills to the other projects that are coming up on construction to make sure that they get opportunities in those projects as they ramp up.
Question: Atyrau Newspaper. My question is: how do you see the future relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the United States due to the election of the new President?
The second question is: whom did you vote for?
Ambassador Hoagland: I’ll answer the first question, and I will explain why I cannot answer the second question.
First, I believe that relations between the United States and Kazakhstan have been consistently growing stronger, ever since Kazakhstan’s independence in 1991. In the United States, a presidential election does not mean vast changes in U.S. foreign policy. Since Kazakhstan’s independence, our policy has been remarkably stable. The three areas of great importance are political and economic progress, security in all of its forms, and number three, energy. That policy has really not changed under Republican presidents and a Democratic president, and I don’t expect it to change now. Of course when there’s a new President sometimes the details and the tone can change, but that is really not major change.
Now you asked, whom did I vote for. I am a professional American diplomat, part of the diplomatic service of the United States, and we are required to be non-partisan. That means we do not talk about our politics, our political views in public. Do I have personal political views? Yes, of course. Did I vote for a candidate for President of the United States? Yes, certainly. Can I tell you whom I voted for? No, I’m sorry, that’s not done in our diplomatic service. That’s because we represent our government, not a political party.
Question: Interfax Kazakhstan Agency. My question is for Mr. Levy. The question is, is Chevron and TCO planning to start building a third generation project? If they do, when will it start?
Mr. Levy: Yes, we actually are in the phase two engineering of a third expansion. The reserves are there and we are looking very seriously at building facilities very comparable to what we’ve just built. We are looking to getting approval to go forward into our detailed engineering next year. When that would come on would be dependent upon when we get our approval.
We do believe that since we’d be using the technology we just installed we would be able to complete it very quickly.
Question: The third question, who will be approving your project? What is the agency that will be approving your project?
Mr. Levy: First off, the partners have to approve it. So that would be KazMunayGas, Chevron, Exxon, LukArco. And then the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has to approve our development.
Question: Achievement Doviask Public Organization. Let me first express our appreciation to Tengiz Chevroil for their sponsorship of such a unique project. It’s good when other companies buy expensive furniture and clothes for orphans and poor children, but this project is very unique because we give the opportunity to our children to earn their own money in the future.
Our worry is that this project is being implemented for the third year, but we are worried that this project is supposed to be finished at the beginning of 2009. So will there be any additional sponsorship after that?
Mr. Levy: Yes, we do plan to continue our sponsorship. TCO is really proud to support the education of important craft skills. It’s consistent with President Nazarbayev’s vision and commitment on vocational skills, and we’re proud to keep supporting it and we will continue to support it.
Ambassador Hoagland: I want to add something, please.
Kazakhstan is a successful country because at the beginning of its independence President Nazarbayev and his government decided that two things are extremely important: first, economic and financial reform; and second, education. Because of economic and financial reform, Kazakhstan has more direct foreign investment than any other country in the region. American investment brings American corporations who become partners with Kazakhstan corporations and the government of Kazakhstan. For example, the sponsor of this school, Tengizchevroil, is the American corporation Chevron in association with KazMunayGaz and the government. All over the world, American corporations are good citizens where they invest, and they invest in social programs to develop the communities where they work. So I hope there will be many more American companies here, because there will be much more social support for here.
Question: Of course today we cannot ignore the financial crisis. My question is, will this financial crisis impact negatively on investment? Will it reduce the investment volume to Tengizchevroil or to Kashagan?
Ambassador Hoagland: I asked that question today of some of the executives at Kashagan when I was visiting. They told me the partners already have the investment money to continue the current work and to expand it. Of course, the world economic crisis right now in some cases will slow investment for the next several years. But it depends on the strength of the companies involved and over the longer period of time, the crisis will be solved and investment will continue and growth will continue.
Thank you very much.
