Malaysian energy companies; Markmore Energy, the oil & gas company owned by leading Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Halim Saad, has signed a framework agreement with the Administration of Kazakhstan’s Mangystau Province to build a $700m methanol plant beside the village of Kuryk on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The methanol plant is scheduled for completion in 2017 and is seen as key to the monetisation of the large gas reserves in the Rakushechnoye Field, which is owned by the Markmore Group through its wholly-owned Kazakhstan subsidiary, CaspiOilGas. LLP Kenmakur Holdings, another Malaysian company, also signed a framework agreement with Mangystau to develop an adjacent $100m natural gas liquid extraction plant. Agrostan Farms, meanwhile, signed a memorandum of understanding with the administration in Zhambyl for the introduction of at least 500 cattle-rearing farms. The three projects, to be undertaken by the Malaysian companies, are worth $1.1 bn in total investments. Ak Zhaik