Kazakh leader to name Masimov as PM - sources

ASTANA, Jan 9 (Reuters) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will nominate Karim Masimov, a business-minded deputy premier, as the new prime minister of the oil-producing republic, members of parliament said today.

Masimov, a technocrat who speaks five languages and has studied at a US business school, is likely to continue the policies of Danial Akhmetov, who resigned as prime minister unexpectedly on Monday, senior lawmakers said.

Former Soviet Kazakhstan is emerging as a major source of non-OPEC oil and international majors Chevron, Eni SpA and Shell have billions of dollars invested in energy projects there.

The state has been seeking a bigger role in the oil sector and investors will watch closely whether the new prime minister continues this trend.

''Tomorrow the president will name him (Masimov),'' one lawmaker told Reuters. Another legislator said his party had ''enthusiastically'' approved Nazarbayev's proposal.

Nazarbayev's office has not said publicly who he will be nominating for the post.

Parliament must approve the president's nominee and a meeting of both houses is planned for Wednesday. Nazarbayev's supporters dominate parliament.

''Without doubt, continuity will be preserved,'' said Amzebek Zholshibekov, leader of the ruling Nur-Otan party's faction in parliament.

Kazakhstan borders China and Russia and has been run by Nazarbayev since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

Its huge oil reserves have made Kazakhstan a key piece in a new ''Great Game'' between the United States, the European Union, China and Russia for control over resources in the crossroads between Europe and Asia.

MULTILINGUAL TECHNOCRAT Masimov, 41, speaks English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Kazakh and has a Ph D in economics. He has studied at Columbia Business School in the United States as well as universities in Russia and China.

Masimov worked as the chairman of two Kazakh banks, Halyk and ATF Bank and he is seen as a technocrat with a keen interest in banking and securities market reforms.

Some sources in Kazakhstan said he has support from within Nazarbayev's politically influential family and could add impetus to reforms. Others said Masimov was just another Nazarbayev loyalist who would continue in Akhmetov's footsteps.

''The president from the start created a system under which the government plays a secondary role,'' Dosym Satpayev, a political analyst, told Reuters by telephone from Almaty.

He said the appointment of Masimov could be regarded as a victory for a group led by Timur Kulibayev, the president's son-in-law, who heads holding company Samruk. The company controls almost all Kazakhstan's state companies.

Nazarbayev keeps a tight rein on ministers and often reshuffles senior officials to balance the clans around him. It was still unclear today why Akhmetov had resigned.

Western oil companies had complained about a change in the law -- instigated by Akhmetov -- which states Kazakhstan's main state oil company must own half of all future investments, while foreign companies bear the burden of exploration costs.

REUTERS BDP BST2118