AKSAI, Western Kazakhstan Oblast, 23 February 2004 – Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO) has announced that its vendors AksaiSpetsMontazh and Gidromet have successfully certified their quality management systems and received ISO 9001 certificates.

The certification was conducted by BM TRADA, an internationally renowned certification body accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and experienced in providing certification services to enterprises of various industry sectors.

Director of AksaiSpetsMontazh Shingaly Rabayev said: “The ISO 9001 certification acknowledges the high quality of services rendered by our company. Thanks to KPO support we have introduced the system of quality management and achieved compliance with international standards”.

KPO Contracts and Procurement Controller Sam Carroll said: “It is in KPO’s interests that its Kazakh vendors have in place an efficient system of quality management. To help achieve that goal KPO conducts comprehensive ISO training for local companies”.

So far, KPO has sponsored 8 local vendors for ISO 9001 quality management training by the USAID Pragma Quality Management Centre. A further 6 local vendors have now been selected for sponsorship in 2004.

Additionally, more than 100 Kazakh companies have attended country-wide commercial awareness seminars organised KPO Vendor Development and Qualification department. Introductory seminars on project management and international standards have also been given. KPO’s efforts to increase the potential of local companies are recognised by the Government of Kazakhstan.

“During the main phase of the Karachaganak field development the Kazakh Content of contracts concluded totalled $1.3 billion”, added Sam Carroll.