The Oil and Gas Transportation in the CIS and Caspian Region Conference was held on 21—22 October 2003 in Vienna, Austria. The event in the city which hosts headquarters of many international organizations including OPEC was organized by the Energy Exchange. It has attracted more than hundred and fifty participants from all over the world.

There were several presentations focused on geopolitical, economic and legal aspects of oil and gas transportation in the CIS and the Caspian region, in particular Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, ranging from main principles of Russian energy policy and export routes in the region (Mr Victor Kaluzhny, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation) to the overview of Kazakh oil and gas transportation projects (Mr Sabr Yessimbekov, Executive Director, National Oil and Gas Company KazMunayGas). There were also presentations from international organisations OPEC and International Energy Agency, oil companies Shell, National Joint Stock Company Naftogas of Ukraine, Itera Oil and Gas Company, bank Alfa Bank, oil transportation companies Transneft and UkrTransNafta etc.

GRATA's Representative in UK, Mr Rashid Gaissin has made a presentation on the Comparison of Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh Oil and Gas Pipeline Legislation. It is one of the first attempts to analyze and compare the certain aspects of pipeline legislation enacted by the three main oil and gas transportation countries in the region. Certain criteria for comparison were suggested and preliminary conclusions were drawn.

The presentations on Kazakhstan have attracted the most lengthy comments and questions. They demonstrated that Kazakhstan has become very attractive for the world oil and gas industry. In general, GRATA Law Firm evaluates the participation in the event as a very promising one.