Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy and Dunga Operating GmbH have resolved a long-running dispute over nonrecoverable historical costs at the Dunga oil field. The investors will provide agreed financial compensation to the state and invest in a new phase of development, the ministry reported. An agreement settling disputes related to the…
Kazakhstani manufacturers of energy equipment aim to secure up to 52% of the construction costs of solar power plants in the country. Sergey Agafonov, chairman of the Kazakhstan Association of Energy Repair, Design and Engineering Companies, made the proposal in a letter to Ryskhan Nugurbekov, managing director of Baiterek, a…
Artificial intelligence will help people in Kazakhstan find jobs, create resumes and identify risks of unemployment. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection is developing a digital employment service powered by AI, according to the ministry. The system will create digital profiles of citizens based on their education, work experience…
Plunging global agricultural prices significantly increase the risk of civil war in developing countries, according to a column by economist Antonio Ciccone published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Analyzing extensive data from 118 low- and middle-income countries between 1957 and 2007, Ciccone finds that a one-standard-deviation drop…
Shipments of Kazakhstani grain to Afghanistan increased 4.4-fold in the first eight months of 2026, reaching 655,000 tons, according to Deputy Minister of Transport Zhanibek Taizhanov. Read also: Cheap Russian grain threatens Kazakhstani farmers’ key markets. Kazakhstan transported 9.3 million tons of grain by rail during the period, up 13%…
The ownership structure of Sozak Oil and Gas, a gas producer planning to develop fields in the South Kazakhstan protected zone, has undergone a major transformation. How the ownership structure changed During the first half of 2026, the company’s principal shareholder significantly reduced its stake, while five new investors acquired…
Solidcore Resources, a Kazakhstan-based gold mining company, is set to invest $25 million in exploration across five sites in Japan as part of a strategic alliance with Japan Gold Corp., a Canadian-registered mineral exploration company. Solidcore may acquire stakes of up to 80% in some of the joint projects, the…
New tracts of land have been added to Kazakhstan’s state subsoil resource management program, with plans to offer them for licensing for hydrocarbon exploration and production, according to documents published on the Ministry of Energy’s website. Notably, some of the newly added tracts contain cemeteries and animal burial grounds. Specifically,…
Tin One Mining, a subsidiary of Solidcore Resources plc, Kazakhstan’s major gold producer, plans to begin ore extraction at the Syrymbet tin deposit in the North Kazakhstan region in 2027, according to the Committee for Environmental Regulation and Control (CERC). Production to begin in 2027 Under the revised plan, the…
According to Azamat Amrin, Kazakhstan’s first vice minister of national economy, the country could receive additional budget revenue if high oil prices persist. Crude oil is currently trading at around $100 per barrel, while Kazakhstan’s 2027 budget assumes an oil price of $70 per barrel. Therefore, higher-than-projected oil prices could…
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defense plans to conduct underwater surveys and explosive ordnance disposal operations in the country’s sector of the Caspian Sea to clear planned routes for subsea oil pipelines for the Kalamkas-Sea and Khazar project. The plans are outlined in the rationale for proposed amendments to Kazakhstan’s Tax Code,…
Kazakhstan’s Tau-Ken Samruk national mining company earned 111.4 billion tenge (about $250 million) in profit in the first half of the year, more than double its profit a year earlier. Nearly half of that amount — 55.2 billion tenge — came from the sale of a 70% stake in the…
Portugal is exploring whether deep layers of porous rock could store surplus renewable electricity, potentially offering a large-scale alternative to conventional batteries, Euronews reported. Researchers from NOVA University Lisbon and the University of Lisbon have studied how this technology, known as compressed-air energy storage, could help address one of the…
Companies working on complex projects in Kazakhstan will be required to gradually replace foreign specialists with Kazakhstani personnel under the Improved Model Contract (IMC). Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov announced the requirement at a recent cabinet meeting. However, his report did not clarify whether the changes cover Kazakhstan’s three largest oil…
Extreme heat could be far more damaging to global rice production than previously thought, according to a study by German scientists who analyzed hundreds of field experiments. The study was conducted by scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.…
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice has denied reports that the collection of a 2.3 trillion tenge (about $5 billion) environmental fine from NCOC, the operator of the Kashagan oil field, in favor of the state has been terminated. «NCOC has currently appealed the actions of the state bailiff. Therefore, the Atyrau…
Seven OPEC+ countries have agreed to maintain their September 2026 required oil production levels in October, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The decision was made during a virtual meeting on Sept. 6 to review global oil market conditions and the outlook. The seven participating countries are…
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction said that, starting in 2027, the country will put promising new subsoil blocks prepared under its large-scale state geological study of subsurface resources program up for investment auctions. The announcement was made during Industry and Construction Minister Yersaiyn Nagaspayev’s working visit to the Ulytau…
The traditional five-day, 40-hour workweek is increasingly being challenged as companies and governments recognize that longer hours do not necessarily translate into greater productivity. A recent ranking by World Population Review highlights how the global shift toward shorter work schedules is reshaping ideas about productivity and employee well-being. From experimental…
A few years ago, journalist and blogger Kirill Pavlov came up with an unusual way to track the value of the U.S. dollar against the Kazakh tenge: the «Shymkent Shashlik Index.» He first discussed the idea in 2020. At the time, a single skewer of shashlik (kebab) in Shymkent cost…
In July, Georgia imported Kazakhstani oil for the first time. The shipment totaled 5,500 tons and was worth $3.2 million, according to data from Georgia’s National Statistics Office. The average price of oil shipped from Kazakhstan was around $582 per ton. For comparison, Georgia imported 87,400 tons of Russian oil…
The UK-registered company Nostrum Oil & Gas will sell its oil and gas assets in Kazakhstan to Altaris Holding, a company associated with Kazakhstani tycoon Kenes Rakishev. Oil and gas industry analyst Nurlan Zhumagulov believes that for Rakishev, the value of Nostrum Oil & Gas’s assets may lie not only…
The Gornyak Artel, a gold mining company operating in Kazakhstan’s Abay region, reported 8 billion tenge ($15.4 million) in profit in 2025, up 2.3% from the previous year. The company is owned by Liechtenstein citizen Adrian Roman Rheinberger. Gornyak is a subsidiary of gold mining company Akzhal Gold Resources. Its…
Kazakhstan-China Pipeline (KCP), which operates the Atasu-Alashankou and Kenkiyak-Kumkol oil pipelines, reported a 26% decline in net profit in 2025, according to its financial statements. The company’s net profit fell to 27 billion tenge (approximately $52 million) from 36.5 billion tenge a year earlier. Revenue declined 13.3%, from 87.9 billion…
