Energy policy of Kazakhstan 2006 during the presidents' meeting in Oral, Kazakhstan and Russia agreed to set up a gas-condensate-processing joint venture between Gazprom and KazMunayGas in Orenburg, which will be supplied from the Karachaganak field. The gas supply agreement was signed on 10 May 2007 in Astana. On 7 December 2006, the Kazakhstan's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Baktykozha Izmukhambetov and the chief of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Sergei Kiriyenko signed an agreement, in which Russia pledged to assist Kazakhstan in its nuclear program in return for shipments of uranium from Kazakhstan to Russia, where the uranium will be enriched.
Gazprom that if supplies were cut, it would deny Gazprom access to its pipelines, which would impair gas transportation to Europe. However, on 1 January 2007, just a few hours before the deadline, Belarus and Gazprom signed a last-minute agreement. Under the agreement, Belarus undertook to pay $100 per 1,000 cubic metre in 2007. The agreement also allowed Gazprom to purchase 50 percent of the shares in Beltransgaz, the Belarusian pipeline network. Immediately following the signing of this agreement, Belarus declared a $42/ton transportation tax on Russian oil travelling through the Gazprom pipelines crossing its territory. On 13 March 2008, after