NCOC reports changes in its executive staff

Giancarlo Ruiu has been appointed as managing director of the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) instead of Olivier Lazare. Previously, Ruiu worked as Director General of the Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V.

«Mr. Giancarlo Ruiu has officially assumed the office of Managing Director of NCOC replacing Olivier Lazare, who had held this position since June 2021,» the company said in a statement.

Ruiu has been supervising oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan and other countries for more than 20 years.

He studied Civil Engineering at the University of Pisa in Italy and has recommended himself as a reliable leader with excellent skills in communication with internal and external counterparts.

Over the years of his career in the oil industry, Ruiu supervised different segments of oil production from exploration to field exploitation. He was also responsible for business development as he served as Director General of Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO). Previously, he worked as head of ground operations in a joint venture by Eni and ADNOC in Abu-Dhabi, managing director in Eni Ghana and head of development of Stage 1 in NCOC.

NCOC announced the change of its managing director in late January.

Kashagan is one of the biggest oil fields in the world discovered over the past several decades. The project has been producing oil since 2016. Because of many obstacles and unexpected extra expenditures investors even dubbed Kashagan as Cash-All-Gone. The Karachaganak oil and gas field has been developing since the 1980s and is one of the biggest oil fields in the world.

Among stakeholders of NCOC are KMG Kashagan B.V. (16.9%), CNPC Kazakhstan B.V. (8.3%), Inpex North Caspian Sea (7.6%), Shell Kazakhstan Development B.V. (16.8%), Total EP Kazakhstan (16.8%) and ExxonMobil Kazakhstan (16.8%). KPO, which operates in the Karachaganak field, has five shareholders namely KazMunayGas (10%), Shell (29.25%), Eni (29.25%), Chevron (18%) and Lukoil (13.5%).