The first document, a memorandum, concerns energy supplies from Kazakhstan to the European Union and investment in the Kazakh energy sector, Piebalgs said during a visit to the Central Asian state, Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported.

The text is due to be signed during a visit to Brussels at the beginning of December by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose country holds large oil reserves.

The European Union, which depends heavily on Russia for energy supplies, is trying to diversify imports and has been at loggerheads with Moscow over investment in Russia's energy sector.

The second document is on nuclear energy and "gives the possibility for direct cooperation in the field of trade in radioactive materials," Piebalgs said.

Kazakhstan has around a quarter of the uranium reserves in the world.

"Nuclear energy is quite developed in the European Union and, of course, uranium supplies are important," Piebalgs said.

The European Union still lags behind China, Russia and the United States in terms of energy cooperation with Kazakhstan, which is becoming an increasingly powerful global energy player thanks to its location and reserves.

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