Former QazaqGaz Head Becomes Energy Vice Minister

Sanzhar Zharkeshov, who was dismissed on August 29 as chair of the national company QazaqGaz, has been appointed Deputy Minister of Energy, Orda.kz reports, citing the government press service.

Zharkeshov was born in 1986 in the Qaraganda region. He graduated from the University of Texas in the U.S. and the Kazakh Economic University named after Ryskulov.

Beginning in 2008, he worked as a research engineer at the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering in Austin, and later collaborated with ExxonMobil in the U.S., Iraq, Russia, and the Atyrau region.

From 2016 to 2018, he served as head of field supervisors and lead drilling engineer at Scotland’s Merlin ERD, before joining McKinsey & Company as a management consultant and global oil and gas expert.

In 2019–2020, Zharkeshov was Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Ecology, Geology, and Natural Resources. From 2020 to 2022, he worked as deputy director general of Naftogaz UGV, before becoming head of QazaqGaz in March 2022.

Earlier the same day, August 29, the government replaced him at QazaqGaz with former Deputy Minister of Energy Alibek Zhamauov.

Original Auhtor: Nikita Drobny