We are pleased to present you the first issue of the annual CSI Energy Outlook. It is significant that the publication of the outlook coincided with the celebration of the 120th anniversary of Kazakhstani oil. On this anniversary I would like to congratulate everyone who has devoted their lives to the oil and gas industry and hope that the oil industry will be the source of many more victoriesand achievements of our country!

It has been four years since the establishment of consulting company CSI. Project after project, our company accumulates expertise, which we strive to share in every possible way.

A few months ago, we launched the CSI Digest – a weekly newsletter and the CSI Monthly – a monthly newsletter. CSI Digest provides an overview of the most important news of Kazakhstan and the world, which, in our opinion, have the greatest impact on socio-economic development of Kazakhstan. And, in the CSI Monthly, CSI employees share their ideas, views and visions on the most pressing issues in Kazakhstan and the world.

We hope that CSI Energy Outlook will become an annual analytical product in which the experts of our oil and gas practice will provide readers with an overview of the oil and gas industry, key world and Kazakhstani events in the energy sector. Our experts prepared an analysis of the world market and current trends in the oil and gas sector, having studied the performance indicators of the business model of the leading companies in the industry, as well as compiled a medium-term forecast for the development of the industry, which was reflected in the forecasting tools in this issue, ratings of Kazakhstani oil and gas producing companies, and also a number of analytical articles on relevant topics in the industry.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to note the invaluable contribution of the reports of the Global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to the indepth analysis of the oil and gas sector. The implementation of the EITI has been carried out in Kazakhstan since 2005 by the initiative of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev. Since joining the initiative, a great deal of work has been done to increase transparency in the extractive sector of our country.

For the leadership of Kazakhstan, raising reporting standards has a high status of international, political and anti-corruption nature and is aimed at transparency of the income of companies and the government in the extractive sector. The full implementation of EITI standards in Kazakhstan should lead to a reduction in political risks and help prevent social tensions in the regions of their activity.

However, a number of issues still remain open regarding the support by extractive industry companies of the achieved level of transparency and its further advancement. In preparing CSI Energy Outlook, we encountered a number of difficulties in collecting information (for details see page 48). We are sure that potential investors face similar difficulties, which hinder the attraction of investments to Kazakhstan. And Kazakhstan citizens are very interested in how efficiently the subsoils of the country are exploited, because they belong to the country, and therefore to its citizens. At the same time, I would like to note a positive example of a large Kazakhstani oil company, which stands out from other companies in terms of accessibility and detail of information - JSC Embamunaigas.

We hope that CSI Energy Outlook will be another source of useful and interesting information for all readers! Thank you for your attention, looking forward to meeting you in the next issue of CSI Energy Outlook.