Freedom Broker has officially launched operations in Kyrgyzstan, marking its entry with a grand opening ceremony in Bishkek. The event was attended by Minister of Economy and Commerce Bakyt Sydykov, Freedom Holding Corp. CEO Timur Turlov and representatives of Kyrgyz public agencies, development funds, banks, major local companies and investors.…
Kashagan, Kazakhstan’s largest oil and gas field on the Caspian shelf, is scheduled for an equipment upgrade in 2026, according to the North Caspian Operating Company N.V. (NCOC), the field’s operator. Holding production steady The planned upgrade will enable additional lines to be connected to the existing process pipeline system…
Several governments and central banks worldwide have recently voiced alarm regarding the risks of buying or investing in cryptocurrencies. Fabio Panetta, a policymaker at the European Central Bank and governor of the Bank of Italy, expressed concern about the reputational risks banks could face by offering services related to crypto-assets,…
Chevron, Eni, Shell and other global oil majors are being pushed to increase their reliance on local suppliers as Kazakhstan moves to strengthen domestic economic participation in its multibillion-dollar energy projects. Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has called on operators of the country’s three largest oil and gas fields —…
Chinese-linked companies have emerged as major winners in Kazakhstan’s latest online auction of hydrocarbon blocks, securing rights to half of the available sites, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy. Four blocks for hydrocarbon exploration and production were awarded in the subsoil use rights auction. The winning companies are as…
Kazakhstani banks earned approximately $1.7 billion in net profit during the first four months of 2025, according to data released by the National Bank. April alone accounted for nearly $470 million, a record monthly figure so far this year. Top 5 banks by net profit (January-April 2025): Halyk Bank –…
Foreign shareholders of Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO) are reportedly unwilling to invest in the construction of a gas processing plant (GPP) with an annual capacity of 4 billion cubic meters at the Karachaganak field in the West Kazakhstan region. The news was reported via the Energy Monitor Telegram channel,…
First Heartland Jusan Bank, operating under the Jusan Bank brand, has announced its rebranding, changing its name to Alatau City Bank. The decision was made during the annual general shareholders’ meeting held on May 15. The bank highlighted that the new name reflects its strategy and ambitions. The name will…
David Brown, a British citizen, has rejoined the board of directors of Bereke Bank, which he left at the beginning of the year, according to a statement from the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) available on its website. The governing body of the credit institution, which was sold to the Qatari…
According to the latest report from Kazakhstan’s National Bank, the deposit volume increased by 2% in April, reaching 41.3 trillion tenge (approximately $81 billion) in the country. The upward trend was observed in deposits denominated in both national and foreign currencies. Despite the base rate remaining unchanged in April at…
Kazakhstan is expected to emerge as the regional leader in Islamic finance, according to a recent report by the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB). The report, developed in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank, forecasts that Kazakhstan’s Islamic banking sector will grow to $3.3 billion by 2033. EDB’s analysts are optimistic…
Prices for Kazakhstani oil, which is being exported in growing volumes to the global market, may decline, according to Dex Wang, director of strategy development at S&P Global Commodity Insights, a leading provider of energy and commodities market intelligence. During the annual S&P Global Commodity Insights Astana Market Briefing on…
Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s national nuclear company, has not reported corporate events to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) since October 2024 and no longer provides information on its ownership structure, according to the company’s response to a recent inquiry from Kursiv.media. The company said the change aligns with KASE’s internal rules for…
The Central Bank of Russia foresees the base rate decreasing to a yearly average of 13% to 14% in 2026 and 7.5% to 8.5% in 2027. These projections were outlined in the regulator’s comment to the medium-term forecast, published on May 12, following a board meeting on the base rate…
KMG International, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG), has resumed operations at a petrochemical unit within the Petromidia refinery in Romania, the company announced. Amid rising demand for petrochemical products in the European market, KMG has launched a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) production plant. The company…
Investment in fixed assets across enterprises in Kazakhstan continues to grow. Notably, this growth is driven less by oil projects and more by infrastructure developments, including schools and hospitals. Despite this shift, the ratio of investments to GDP has declined, reaching a 10-year low. Top 100 largest investment projects by…
Vyacheslav Kim has retained the top spot on the list of the richest Kazakhstanis in 2025. Timur Turlov rose from 5th to 2nd place, while Vladimir Kim stepped up from 4th to 3rd. Timur Kulibayev and his wife Dinara dropped from 2nd to 6th, and Bulat Utemuratov was ranked 6th,…
According to Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui, Russian gas delivered to China via Kazakhstan may be too expensive. The official stated that a more viable option would be gas supplies via Mongolia. «Delivering Russian gas through Kazakhstan doesn’t work because there is just one pipeline, and it already operates…
Kazakhstan’s government has introduced new pricing rules that cap discounts on the purchase of key nuclear materials at 15%. The regulation applies to uranium hexafluoride — produced by converting uranium oxide, a finished product of Kazakhstan’s uranium industry — and enriched uranium products. Under the new rules, the government will…
Kazakhstan’s latest macroeconomic review by analysts at the Applied Economics Research Centre (AERC) has amended the tenge exchange rate forecast to reflect its greater devaluation. In 2025, the exchange rate is expected to stand at 512.8 tenge per dollar on average, whereas the previous outlook from January suggested a rate…
For years, the U.S. has ranked among the largest investors in Kazakhstan. But in 2023, foreign direct investment (FDI) from the U.S. dropped by nearly 80%. In 2024, the country recorded a net outflow of $870 million in U.S. investment, the first such outflow since data tracking began in 2005,…
Kazakhstan’s open defiance of OPEC+ production cut commitments is raising questions about whether the country may exit the alliance, potentially triggering a painful price war at a time of global market volatility, according to the Reuters news agency. Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov told Reuters on Wednesday, April 23, that…
Kazakhstan, which has frequently exceeded its oil production quotas under the OPEC+ agreement, will independently set its output levels in the future, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said in a recent interview with Reuters. Akkenzhenov emphasized that the ministry will fully support increased production at the country’s largest oil field Tengiz,…
Arbitration proceedings over Kashagan — Kazakhstan’s largest oil field located on the Caspian shelf — could drag on until 2028, according to a new investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). ICIJ’s findings are based on a confidential interim ruling in a $160 billion case, which centers on…
