The recently concluded U.S.-China trade talks, which resumed on June 9 in London, focused on easing tensions over rare earth elements and advanced technology. These developments could place Kazakhstan and Ukraine at the forefront of the search for alternative sources of critical minerals. President Donald Trump has authorized his trade…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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 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…
Kazakhstan has proposed a uranium mining and fuel supply deal to support Turkey’s growing nuclear energy ambitions, according to Baurzhan Duisebayev, CEO of the Chemical Engineering Design Bureau. «Suddenly, Turkey is leading the way: four reactors are under construction there, and it could become a valuable new partner for Kazakhstan,»…
Oil and uranium account for 73% of Kazakhstan’s exports to the U.S. This category of goods is likely to be exempt from new tariffs imposed on trade partners of the U.S. by President Donald Trump. The White House has already published a document listing goods free of new duties. The…
Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has signed a government decree granting Altyn Group Qazaqstan, a subsidiary of the British A Gold Plc, a temporary lease on a 71.37-hectare plot within the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. The company plans to expand gold mining operations in the Abay region, where the…
Orano, a French nuclear fuel company, and Navoiyuran, Uzbekistan’s state-owned uranium mining enterprise, have signed an agreement to advance the industrial development of the South Djengeldi uranium deposit, Orano announced in a statement. Under the deal, uranium production is expected to ramp up to 700 tons per year within the…
A two-day meeting of Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) shareholders took place in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, from Feb. 25 to Feb. 26, where they discussed the Ukrainian drone attack on the facility. In the late hours of Feb. 17, a group of Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) attacked…
Companies from the U.S., the European Union and China can bid for rights to Kazakhstan’s rare earth and rare metal deposits at government-held auctions, according to the country’s Minister of Industry and Construction Kanat Sharlapaev. Competition among major global players for these critical materials — essential for renewable energy, electric…
Russia and China’s drive to ensure economic security amid global uncertainty could accelerate the launch of key energy projects in Kazakhstan. The word «uncertainty» has quickly become one of the most frequently used terms in forecasts for 2025. It repeatedly appears in the recent Global Risks Report 2025 by the…
The U.S. presidential election will take place on Nov. 5, with a tight race between the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and the Republican former president Donald Trump. The election outcome will influence many global processes, including the economy. For Kazakhstan, one critical factor is the global price of oil, which…
Kazakhstan’s claims against a group of international oil majors involved in developing the Kashagan field have increased to $160 billion. The government recently raised its demand by more than $10 billion, alleging that certain deals were tainted by corruption, according to Bloomberg. This latest development has sparked speculation about who…
As product-sharing agreements on Karachaganak, Kashagan and Tengiz are getting closer to expiring, new negotiations between Kazakhstan and foreign investors are looming ahead. We have to talk in the same language on these negotiations,” says Askar Ismailov, head of the PACE analytical company. Of course, he doesn’t mean the English…
In 2022, the combined capacity of renewable energy power stations in Kazakhstan rose by 4.5% and reached 2.5 gigawatts. Last year, Kazakhstan’s power stations produced 112.8 billion kilowatt-hours in total. About 5.1 billion kilowatt-hours were generated by renewable sources like solar and wind power stations, small hydroelectric power stations and…
