Central Asia has emerged as potentially the most important new hydrocarbon province in decades. Among the countries whose natural resources are now the focus of world attention, Kazakhstan is very much in the front rank. The scale and strategic importance of its reserves mean that it is set to become one of the key players in the global market. Realising that potential depends on many factors, not least its legal treatment of the oil and gas industry. The contributors to this volume consider the various dimensions of that legal treatment, including investment and contractual issues, dispute settlement, transport and refining, environmental issues, and taxation. The importance of the international context for Kazakhstan's domestic law is a key feture of this book, as is a concern with identifying existing problems and suggesting the most fruitful direction for reform. The book will be of interest to practitioners and academics working in the specific field as well as in the more general area of legal relations between the oil and gas industry and transition economies. Ilias Bantekas is Reader in Law at the University of Westminster, London, UK. He has written widely in the field of