Stephenson Harwood

Kazakhstan is an oil-producing country, having significant reserves of hydrocarbon materials (about 3% of world reserves). The country is among the to 15 world’s leading producers. There are about 200 oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan, the total volume of which is about 12 billion tonnes. Annually, the Republic produces almost 80 million tonnes of oil, and 70% of production is concentrated in the country’s West. The oil and gas field subject to the transaction is included in the list of strategic oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan legislation requires companies, willing to acquire subsoil use rights or shares in the companies which possess subsoil use rights, to obtain a permission of the Ministry of Energy for the deal. Incompliance with the requirement may lead to deal invalidation, resulting in huge losses for the parties. Unicase keeps a close eye on the Client’s compliance with the requirements when structuring and implementing M&A transactions in the sector.

The deal will boost the attractiveness of Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry, which should increase the inflow of investments into the industry and contribute to the stable development of the wider economy. The state revenues received from the oil and gas industry should be accumulated for further financing and modernisation of oil & gas and other economy sectors.