Kazakhstan Freezes NCOC Assets Over Kashagan Environmental Fine

Kazakhstan has frozen property and vehicles belonging to North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), the operator of the Kashagan oil field, over the disputed 2.3 trillion tenge environmental fine, Orda.kz reports, citing Reuters.

Reuters cited Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice database. The records do not specify which assets were affected. The restrictions were imposed on July 21.

NCOC operates Kashagan on behalf of seven major oil and gas companies: KazMunayGas, Eni, Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, CNPC and Inpex.

The 2.3 trillion tenge fine—approximately $4.8 billion—was imposed on NCOC and its contractors over alleged violations of sulfur storage limits.

The consortium had until July 20 to comply with the court ruling voluntarily. After the deadline, the authorities were permitted to begin enforcement proceedings and impose an additional 10% enforcement fee of approximately 230 billion tenge.

NCOC disputes the fine and says a tribunal operating under UNCITRAL rules issued an interim order prohibiting Kazakhstan from enforcing it while arbitration proceedings continue.

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice maintains that the commercial arbitration order does not override decisions made by Kazakhstani courts.

Original author: Oksana Matviyenko

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