INTERVIEW-Kazakh state energy firm weighs foreign partnership

By Michael Stott and Maria Golovnina

ASTANA, March 27 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's state energy firm KazMunaiGas is considering strategic partnerships with Western players to gain access to technology as it ramps up production with a long-term aim of tripling output.

KazMunaiGas President Uzakbai Karabalin also told Reuters in an interview that as his ambitious company grew, it had been looking carefully at different state-run energy giants around the world and felt Statoil was a good example to follow.

"We think strategic partnership with famous companies that have the best experience, the best management and technology, would be very useful for us," he said at the company's headquarters in Kazakhstan's newly built steppe capital Astana.

"We are considering this possibility because we are not as competitive on the global market today as, say, Exxon, Chevron or Shell. That's why of course we have to weigh up our capabilities realistically," he added.

Talks had not yet started but KazMunaiGas was sizing up potential partners to see who it could work with, he added.

Asked if Statoil could be the partner, Karabalin said: "Why not ? It could be." He would not give further information about who a possible partner might be, beyond indicating that it would be a Western firm.

KazMunaiGas, which is fully state-owned but has a listed exploration and production arm KazMunaiGas E&P (KMGq.L), wants to first double and then triple its output, Karabalin said. He would not be drawn on a timeframe for this.

KazMunaiGas produces around a quarter of Kazakh oil and its growth is at the centre of the Central Asian state's plans to join the ranks of the world's top 10 crude producers in a decade.