Does KMG's Top Management Fly Private Business Jets?

Orda.kz has obtained documents indicating that the top management of KazMunayGas (KMG) has been flying in luxury.

According to the information, KMG executives do not use commercial flights for business trips but instead fly on Bombardier Challenger business jets—small, custom-built aircraft for a limited number of passengers.

Each flight reportedly costs between $50,000 and $100,000.

Such spending might not raise eyebrows if it were Chevron, one of the world’s largest private corporations. However, in this case, it concerns a national company, owned by the Kazakh government through the Samruq-Qazyna Fund. 

Incidentally, President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev has previously criticized the fund’s management for wastefulness:

The efficiency of national companies remains a serious problem. Administrative expenses in national and quasi-state companies remain high. This is a failure of Samruq-Qazyna’s management. Basic standards need to be revised to ensure the fund’s proper functioning,
Toqayev said at an extended government meeting in July 2022.

Most of the flights were domestic, between Astana, Almaty, Atyrau, Semey, and Oskemen, with two international trips to Tashkent.

Between August 24 and September 5, Orda.kz counted at least eight such flights.

This raises questions, particularly against the company’s financial backdrop: KMG’s net profit for the first half of 2025 fell by 2.8% to 534 billion tenge.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance in 2023 had to purchase 8% of KMG shares for 1.3 trillion tenge to patch up the budget deficit — a deal experts called “shifting assets from one pocket to another.”

Passenger lists from the September 5 Astana–Atyrau charter include KMG Chair Askhat Khasenov, deputy Aset Magauov, advisor Makhambet Dosmukhambetov, and Alimuhammed Kuttumuratuly, among others.

They were met at the airport by luxury vehicles, including Lexus LX 570s and Toyota Land Cruisers.

Samruq-Qazyna’s Co-Managing Director Bakhytzhan Taubayev and Vice Minister of Energy Kudaibergen Arymbek were also reportedly on board.

Our source said the VIP convoy drove through Atyrau resembling a government motorcade.

This starkly contrasts with management’s repeated refusals to raise wages for oil workers, citing “limited resources.” 

At the same time, Kazakhstan is embroiled in litigation with foreign investors over Kashagan in Geneva — where expenses on business jets are also under dispute as “unforeseen costs” that the state refuses to recognize.

Original Author: Gulnara Bazhkenova

Please refer to the original piece for accuracy.