Burservice prepares to enter Kazakh, Uzbek markets

MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - Russian oilfield services company Burservice is preparing to expand its international presence and enter the markets of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the near term, company chairman Roman Zhdanov said in an interview with Interfax.

"At the moment, among foreign countries we only have a presence in Belarus, but we also provide remote consulting services to customers from Central Asia. We're interested in this market and in the near future we plan to enter it, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan," Zhdanov said.

If the expansion is successful, Burservice will study the possibility of entering markets outside the former Soviet Union, such as the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

At the same time, the company plans to expand its share of the Russian market, foremost in the high-tech drilling segment, which it now estimates at 12%-15%.

"Considering the plans we have for localization and import substitution, we anticipate that this percentage should increase considerably in the next few years," Zhdanov said.

Burservice, the former Russian business of U.S. oilfield services giant Halliburton, specializes in providing drilling and oil and gas field development services. The company now has operations bases in eight Russian regions.