On December 28th, a law “On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Subsoil Use and Ecology” was signed, which, among others, is aimed at increasing the investment attractiveness of geological exploration for hydrocarbons, encouraging investment in depleting deposits, and fixing the minimum amount of equity participation (50% or more) of the national company in the field of hydrocarbons in large deposits.
In an address to the nation on September 1st, President Tokayev had stated that “Geological exploration requires special attention. In 2018, in order to replenish the mineral resource base, new legislation was adopted to manage the mining sector. However, it did not work in full. As a result, there have been no significant geological discoveries in our resource-rich country for a long time. This situation urgently needs to be rectified.”
The relevant departments were then tasked with modernizing the mining sector management system as soon as possible, reducing the time-frame and procedures for approving projects by introducing comprehensive state expertise and the complete digitization of the process. The implementation of the law will give additional impetus to investment in geological exploration in the field of hydrocarbons in Kazakhstan, the Energy Ministry stated.
