The next material in the chain of analytical materials concerns the West Kazakhstan region. The main emphasis is placed on the study of basic industries with development potential. The West Kazakhstan Region belongs to the western macro-region specializing in the oil and gas industry, mechanical engineering, food industry, construction industry, grain farming and animal husbandry. The territory of the region is rich in deposits of gas and gas condensate, oil, borate ores, oil shale, potassium-magnesium salts, calcareous rocks, cement raw materials, chalk, expanded clay, construction and alluvial sand.

The West Kazakhstan Region is one of the developed industrial and agrarian regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The basis of the industrial complex of the region is the oil and gas industry (about 90% of the total production), the development of which depends on the price situation on the world oil markets and the increase in the production of raw materials. One of the world's largest oil and gas-bearing land plots, Karachaganak, is located near Aksai. The field covers an area of 280 sq. km. The reserves of the field are 1.35 trillion cubic meters of gas and 1.2 billion tons of oil and gas condensate.

By the end of 2020, the West Kazakhstan Region took the 15th place in the ranking among the regions of Kazakhstan in the formation of the country's GDP, which accounts for 4.9% and in the formation of the GVA of the manufacturing industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the region's share was 1.4% or 134.2 billion tenge. In the structure of industry since 2016, the mining industry provides over 86% of production, and the products produced are the main export items of the region and the main source of foreign exchange earnings. In 2020, in the structure of the manufacturing industry, food production accounts for 37%, mechanical engineering – 19.1%, metallurgy – 15.7%, coke and refined petroleum products – 9.1% and other non–metallic mineral products - 7.2%.

The region is in the top 3 in the country for the production of 8 goods, including 1st place in the production of gas condensate (97% of the country's production), natural gas (81%), canned meat (67%), fish products (33%), slag and silicate bricks (19%), sausages and similar meat products (15%), unrefined sunflower oil (2%) and sunflower oil and its fractions (1%). By the end of 2020, the total trade turnover amounted to 4,632 million US dollars (exports – 84%, imports - 16%). The share of the region in the total volume of exports of the country is 8.2% and in the total volume of exports of the manufacturing industry is 1%. The region's commodity exports for 2020 consisted of mining products (95.4%), manufacturing (3.8%), water supply (0.3%), other services not included in other groupings (0.2%) and agriculture (0.35%).

The main export partner of the West Kazakhstan Region is Russia, which accounted for 60% of the export basket of processed goods, mainly consisting of other casing pipes, pump-compressor and drilling pipes for drilling oil or gas wells, made of ferrous metals (except cast iron casting), substitutes for sturgeon caviar: salmon caviar (red caviar), transformers with liquid dielectric with a capacity of no more than 650 kva , other cast iron products. Other importing partners were Tajikistan (11.5%), Afghanistan (7.4%), Belarus (3.9%), to which other liquefied petroleum gases, light distillates and products, wheat flour or wheat-rye flour were mainly exported. Industrial imports of the region's manufacturing industry consist of mechanical engineering products (32.1%); metallurgical industry (22.6%); food products (15.5%) and chemical industry (15.5%). The main foreign trade partner of the West Kazakhstan Region for imports is Russia, which accounts for 31.1% of the import basket of processed goods, mainly consisting of bodies for motor vehicles. Another major import partner is China (16.9%), which mainly exported uranium enriched with uranium-235 and its compounds; plutonium and its compounds; alloys and dispersions (including cermets), ceramic products and mixtures containing uranium enriched with uranium-235, plutonium or compounds of these products. The list number of people employed in the manufacturing industry of the region amounted to 8,360 people (2.8% of the total number in the country).

The structure of the list number of the region shows that the largest share is occupied by the number of people employed in mechanical engineering (52.2%), in food production (22.1%), in other non-metallic mineral products (9.5%), in metallurgical production (8%). The volume of investments in fixed assets for 2020 amounted to 467 billion tenge, the share of which in the total indicator of the country is 3.8%. In the structure of investments in industry, the largest volume of investments in fixed assets falls on the mining industry – 92.2%, followed by water supply — 3.6%, manufacturing industry — 2.2% and electricity supply — 1.9%.

Within the framework of two five-year industrialization plans (2010-2021), 9 projects totaling 25.8 billion tenge were introduced in the region, 448 jobs were created, among them the following key projects should be highlighted: Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. Kazakhstan branch, Karachaganak-Uralsk gas pipeline (Stage II); LLY AGRO-ENERGY LLP, Ural Technological Park "Data Center"; Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. Kazakhstan branch for the installation of in-depth stabilization and purification of hydrocarbon raw materials of the CPC; Batys Power LLP, STES 200 URALSK, the first 100 MW start-up complex; "Zhaikmunai" LLP, Installation for complex gas treatment; "Condensate" JSC, Production of ecoclass K5 motor fuel. The concentration of production is the degree of predominance of several independent economic entities (commodity producers) in the system of production of goods supplied to one geographical commodity market. Indicators of the level of concentration of the region in the country are indicators of the level of concentration of production of the region from the level of the country.

Among the indicators of the concentration level in the context of the West Kazakhstan region, the largest indicator is the availability of fixed assets – 4.9% of the total volume of fixed assets of the country. The region occupies a small share in terms of such indicators as the volume of cargo transportation and electricity consumption – 1.6%. In general, the economy is characterized by a low level of concentration in the economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In addition, to analyze the diversification of the region's economy and compare it with the national economy, the Hatchman coefficient is used, which is based on the localization coefficient.

In 2016-2020, the localization coefficient varies from 0.51 to 0.60, which means that the structure of the region corresponds by half to the structure of the country's economy as a whole. The specialization of the West Kazakhstan region in 2020 is the mining industry, state administration and defense, transport and warehousing, construction and activities in the field of administrative and support services. Using the coefficient of revealed comparative advantage (RCA), 10 goods exported from the West Kazakhstan region on the 6th HS mark were identified, which have the greatest potential for industrial concentration in the region. The analysis of the potential of the field of industrial cooperation with the border territories of the Russian Federation allowed to identify 68 groups of goods in mechanical engineering, metallurgy and the production of finished metal products. Namely, the largest possible export to the Orenburg region: to the production of hollow, seamless, ferrous metal pipes, tubes and profiles (except cast iron), as well as other ferrous metal products; in Astrakhan: in the production of casing pipes, pump-compressor and drilling pipes for drilling oil or gas wells, from ferrous metals (except cast iron), also building materials, prefabricated construction structures; in Volgograd: production of plates, sheets, films, foils and strips or tapes from polymer materials; in Saratov: in production of ferrous metal products: pipes, tubes, fittings, etc.; in Samara: production of electrical equipment.

In order to identify niche areas in the manufacturing industry that contribute to the deepening of the region's specialization, as well as the expansion of supply chains, a group of goods with a competitive advantage was formed and the level of technological complexity of the production of goods was determined using the "Product Complexity Index", according to which 10 goods from the branches of mechanical engineering, food production and metallurgy. The positive value of the Index is observed in the following positions: transformers with a liquid dielectric with a capacity of not more than 650 kva, as well as with a capacity of more than 650 kva, but not more than 10000 kv; nitrogen; other casing pipes, pump-compressor and drill pipes for drilling oil or gas wells, made of ferrous metals (except cast iron) and other cast cast iron products suggest that in addition to diversifying the export basket of the region, it is also possible to increase its technological complexity. The group of products with a negative Index value has opportunities for deepening production: other liquefied petroleum gases; crustaceans, in shell or without shell, live, fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine; smoked crustaceans, in shell or without shell, not subjected or subjected to heat treatment before or during smoked; substitutes for sturgeon caviar: salmon caviar (red caviar); eel whole or in pieces, but not stuffed; wheat flour or wheat-rye.

Thus, a preliminary analysis based on indices showed that food production, namely: bread, bakery products, fish processing and fish products, can become niche areas in the manufacturing industry of the West Kazakhstan region. In addition, there is a potential for mastering the production of machine-building products, metal products, gases and chemical products.