BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 12. A joint venture
between Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG)
and Croatia’s Geoenergija Razvoj d.o.o. has been registered to
operate the Shygys geological exploration project in Kazakhstan’s
Aktobe region.
This was reflected in the statement published by KMG.
The new company, Shygys Operating LLP, will serve as the
operator for geological exploration activities at the Shygys
subsoil site. The joint venture was established by KMG and
Geoenergija Razvoj d.o.o., a subsidiary of the Croatian Hydrocarbon
Agency (CHA).
"The new company is the operator of geological exploration at
the Shygys subsoil site in the Aktobe region. As a reminder, the
minimum work program for this project includes 500 linear
kilometers of 2D seismic surveys and drilling a 3,500-meter-deep
exploratory well," the statement of KMG says.
Nurlan Konysov has been appointed General Director of Shygys
Operating LLP by the decision of the company’s participants’
general meeting. Konysov has a degree in oil and gas geology and
extensive experience in the KazMunayGas system. He began his career
as an assistant driller at Oil Services Company LLP. From 2015 to
2023, he headed KMG’s Geology and Exploration Department. He has
also held positions at RD KazMunayGas JSC, Karaton Operating Ltd,
Kalamkas — Khazar Operating and Project Institute Optimum LLP.
Diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Croatia
were established on 20 October 1992. In recent years the two
countries have expanded cooperation in the energy sector, including
a memorandum of understanding between KazMunayGas and Croatia’s
JANAF on oil transportation and storage, as well as growing
bilateral trade. The Shygys project in the Aktobe region marks
Croatia’s first entry into Kazakhstan’s upstream hydrocarbon
exploration. The joint venture operates on a 50/50 basis, with the
Croatian side (through Geoenergija Razvoj d.o.o., a subsidiary of
the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency) fully financing the exploration
phase.
