News

ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC (AMT), Kazakhstan’s largest metallurgical company, is set to appear in court and defend itself again environmental damage charges that could result in compensation payouts worth KZT 1.8 billion and KZT 15.3 million.

The Ecology Department of the Karaganda region has filed claims against AMT with the local economic court. According to the agency’s data, the company’s generation facility, TPP-TBS (thermal power plant and turbo blower station), has released fugitive emissions into the atmosphere. The company also failed to contain emissions when forming and fortifying the dam around the ash pond. The damage from these violations could cost...

According to SCAT airline press service, on August 25, the flight from Nur-Sultan to Almaty suffered a bird strike that triggered an on-board emergency system. However, the aircraft landed safely. 

As underlined by airline press service, the landing at Almaty airport occurred under normal conditions.

«During flight, the crew noticed a strange noise that disappeared rapidly. The operation of engines was absolutely normal during the entire flight. However, the pilots informed dispatchers at Almaty airport about the incident per protocol given the situation. The flight and the landing were normal and with no onboard incidents,» the airline said. 

Later, the...

The country may increase its personal protective equipment (PPE) production to nearly 1.5 million masks per day making a bid to capitalize on the still high demand for such items even after the easing of strict quarantine measures. 

PPE is soaring all over the world. According to Grand View Research, the sales of single-use masks have increased from $800 million in 2019 to $74.9 billion in the first quarter of 2020 with total year sales topping $166 billion.

The high demand is a real stressor for all PPE manufacturers to include Kazakhstan’s Dolce-Pharm.

Tough conditions

Dolce-Pharm is the largest Kazakhstani...

The Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan plans to defend the interests of producers and exporters of Kazakhstani silicon to the United States. This was stated by Trade Minister Bakhyt Sultanov on August 20.

In late June, American silicon producers Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. and Mississippi Silicon LLC filed a petition to impose anti-dumping duties on products from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Malaysia. Kazakhstan was also included among those listed as claims surfaced that the Kazakhstani silicon imports were being unfairly subsidized. In retaliation, a request was made to investigate countervailing duties on Kazakhstani silicon materials imported into...

The authorities of Kazakhstan plan to exempt marketplaces from two taxes, said Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov on August 20.

There are 13 Kazakhstani digital trading platforms in the country with the most well-known being Kaspi, Chocofamily, Technodom and Mechta.

«In order to support them, we are exploring the issue of additionally exempting them from corporate income tax and personal income tax. Together with the National Bank, we are working on issues of stimulating development of e-commerce through payment systems,» Sultanov stated.

The rate of corporate income tax withheld from taxable income in Kazakhstan is...

FC Astana lost to FC Dynamo Brest in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.

The Kazakhstani squad had a rather unsuccessful debut in the match: by the middle of the first half, the Belarusian team scored three unanswered goals against Astana’s goalkeeper Dmitry Nepogodov. More than that, two of the three were scored by Kazakhstan-born Mikhail Gordeichuk.

The Belarus team quickly scored again, and only after that did the Kazakhstanis show signs of life: Marin Tomasov scored their first goal right before the break – 4:1.

In the second half, the opponents traded goals twice which did not...

The authorities of Kazakhstan intend to prolong the ban on the import of fuels and lubricants into the country until November 1, 2020. This is stated in the corresponding document from the republic’s Ministry of Energy.

As before, the extension of the ban will protect the domestic oil refining industry and ensure an optimal balance between the volumes of produced and consumed petroleum products within Kazakhstan.

«Import of gasoline, aviation and diesel fuel to the Republic of Kazakhstan by rail, road and pipeline transport is to be banned until November 1, 2020, with the exception of winter and arctic...

Residents of the villages Bestobe and Aksu, located in the Akmola region, made numerous complaints about air pollution and massive dust accumulation as a result of ore mining and processing by Kazakhaltyn. The company is also building a tailing dump which the locals protest, as this could lead to even worse environmental pollution. A delegation from the Ministry of Ecology led by Zulfukhar Zholdasov, head of the Committee for Environmental Regulation and Control, went to the site to inspect the company’s dealings, the ministry’s press office reports.

The ecologists met with the public representatives of the villages, representatives of the...

If amendments to the Kazakhstani tax legislation will be adopted, foreign internet companies will be required to pay value added tax starting from the beginning of 2021. It’s supposed that the new tax will not affect online trade in goods, but will cover, for example, the purchasing of online games and books, as well as advertising and the use of domain names.

The initiator of the digital tax is the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan Introduces New Tax

Digital tax is not a special type of tax. In Kazakhstan, this concept means the extension of...

Weightlifter Nadezhda Nogay and discus thrower Maria Telushkina received punishment for using prohibited performance-enhancing drugs. This was reported by the Kazakhstan National Anti-Doping Center (KazNADC).

Weightlifter Nadezhda Nogay, five-time world champion in various age categories, first had a positive doping test four years ago, before the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which she ultimately didn’t attend.

After a lengthy trial, she was disqualified for four years with the wording: «use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method.»

The weightlifter has already served most of the term, since the beginning of her disqualification was on June...

Dariga Nazarbayeva commented on the death of her son Aisultan and asked the public for understanding and respect for her family during this tragedy. This was reported on the Facebook page of the Foundation of the ex-President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.

«My family is in deep mourning due to the death of our beloved Aisultan. In this difficult time for our family, we hope that the public is understanding and respectful of our irreparable loss,» the Foundation’s message reads.

The news of the death of Nazarbayev’s grandson emerged in media on August 16. Aisultan Nazarbayev died on the...

At the end of June, the Law “On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Improving the Business Climate” was adopted. While the draft law was being discussed, it was proposed to introduce into law a definition of a “deadlock” situation, as well as options to resolve it.

In a broad sense, deadlock is a state of inaction caused by opposition or lack of compromise in resolving issues between meeting participants or shareholders. During the draft law discussion, it was proposed to define a deadlock as a situation that occurs when the participants of...

Oil supply from non-OPEC countries will amount to 62.11 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, compared to 65.14 million bpd in 2019 (a decrease of 3.03 million bpd). This was reported by Interfax with reference to the monthly report from the OPEC.

Experts increased the 2019 supply level by 120,000 bpd up to 65.14 million bpd and increased the 2020 estimated supply by 350,000 bpd up to 62.11 million bpd. Thus, it is now projected that non-OPEC countries will reduce oil production in 2020 by 3.03 million bpd, not 3.26 million.
The projection was mainly revised due to the...

The meeting in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League between FC Dynamo Brest and FC Astana may be postponed or transferred to a neutral field. This was reported by Pressball.

According to the publication, there is a real possibility that the game between the strongest clubs of Belarus and Kazakhstan will not take place in Brest as scheduled.

«If the tense situation in Belarus lasts for another week, then the Champions League in Brest might be under challenge. In any case, the UEFA and FC Astana are probably closely following the Belarus news. They might even...

Kazakhstan increased coal mining in January through July compared to the same period last year, said Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan Beibut Atamkulov.

At the start of 2020, the ministry expected yearly coal mining to amount to 120 million tons, of which 38 million tons were planned for export. Based on the results of the first half-year of 2020, Kazakhstan mined 54.7 million tons of coal, with a 1.9% increase compared to the same period last year: in 2019, total coal mining in Kazakhstan was 111 million tons, with 28 million tons exported.

«Due to growth...

Tengizchevroil has published its operating results for the first half of 2020.

In the first half of this year, volume of oil production at the Tengiz oil field amounted to 14.26 million tons, or 112.51 million barrels, which is 4.6% less than in the same period last year. At the same time, the company increased sales of liquefied gas by 7.8%, to 725 thousand tons. Sales of dry gas over the same period decreased by 2.5%, to 3.9 billion cubic meters, and sales of sulfur remained at the same level, 1.3 million tons.

From January to June, direct payouts from...

The national oil company of Kazakhstan KazMunayGas (KMG) recorded a decline in almost all segments of its activities during the first half of 2020. Among the most affected are crude oil refining and oil productproduction because KMG was forced to reduce both of them in order to avoid overstocking.

Big global private oil companies operating in Kazakhstan such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell have also announced multi-billion-dollar losses.

Upstream

The level of oil and gas condensate production at KMG, which has stakes in various production companies, decreased by 3.1% in the first half of this year, to 11.3 million tons...

According to the Ministry of Energy press release, oil rights will be provided via an online auction starting from September 1. 

The new rules are stipulated by a new version of Code «On Subsurface and Subsurface Use» which envisages online auctions for licenses.

«While all previous auctions were held in the paper format, which was not perfect, from September 1 of this year, those who are interested in oil rights will be able to participate in auctions online,» the agency’s press release said.

New online auctions are expected to be transparent and improve the competitive environment.

Earlier in...

According to the Kazakhstani Ministry of Energy, average daily oil production in July was 1.313 million barrels or 101% of the country’s obligations.

As part of OPEC+ deal, Kazakhstan was obliged to produce 1.319 million barrels per day in July.

In June Kazakhstan exceeded its obligations as well. That month the oil output without condensate was 5.3 million tons or 1.297 million barrels a day with a compliance rate of 105%. In May, the same indicator showed 71%.

Earlier in April, Kazakhstan has received new obligations under the OPEC+ agreement to cut oil production.

In general, the OPEC + deal...

Kazakhstan’s national airline company Air Astana will not pay dividends for 2019. It was announced by Ernar Zhanadil, co-managing director for finance at the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna.

According to Zhanadil, the payment of dividends at the end of 2019 was not planned, despite the fact that Air Astana received a net profit of 5.7 billion tenge.

«This is primarily due to the fact that the company originally planned to use these funds for its IPO events,» Zhanadil noted at a briefing on Thursday, July 30.

Subsequently, those plans were adjusted to reflect the negative impact of the...

The latest amendments to the legislation on improving the business climate in Kazakhstan will help small businesses expand their current ventures or build new ones. In particular, the requirement to develop design documentation for low-tech constructions has been canceled.

Low-tech constructions are mobile complexes made of containers, blocks and modules; single-story buildings used for trade, catering and consumer service, which are built out of prefabricated constructions; warehouses and storage facilities with a height of no more than 7 meters and an area of up to 2,000 square meters; or open parking lots for 50 spaces or less. They also include...

Music streaming service Spotify is a project created by Swedish entrepreneurs Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentson. The domain name of Spotify.com was registered in April 2006. The service started its operation on the European market in 2008 and in the United States in 2010. In 2013 a mobile application was developed. In Kazakhstan, it was available through a VPN only.  

This summer Spotify has decided to extend its influence for the East Europe market by connecting with 14 new countries including Kazakhstan. According to Gustav Gyllenhammar, vice president of Spotify on new markets, the estimated number of music fans in...

According to KazAvtoProm, the automotive industry association of Kazakhstan, despite the pandemic, the car market in Kazakhstan is hot and has archived 313.4 billion tenge ($756.8 million) in revenue during the first half of the year. In total, 35,086 new passenger and commercial vehicles were sold there. 

The average new car price is about 10.3 million tenge ($24873), which is 14.7% higher than last year. The most affordable cars on the local market are those that were assembled in Kazakhstan with the price in 7.6 million tenge ($18353) on average.

The same indicator for imported cars is about 13.2 million...

Polymetal International PLC, which mines gold in Kazakhstan and Russia, has announced the second-quarter financial results.

According to the company, the production of gold in the second quarter has increased by 2% up to 358,000 ounces compared to the same period of last year. Particularly, this growth was based on the work of the Kyzyl mining site (Kazakhstan), which has shown high results and compensated losses at the Svetloe mining site in Russia. In total, during the first half of the year, Polymetal produced 723,000 ounces of gold or 4% more than in the last year.

Thanks to the increase...