Oil Company of Dariga Nazarbayeva's Husband to Leave Shareholders without Dividends

At an annual meeting, Ushkuyu JSC shareholders decided not to pay dividends on the company's common shares for 2023. This is due to Ushkuyu's losses, which amounted to 29.4 million tenge last year, Orda.kz reports.

Ushkuyu JSC, registered in Aqtau, is listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). The company is closely associated with Dariga Nazarbayeva, the daughter of Kazakhstan's first president.

Shareholders also approved the company's audited financial statements for 2023.

In 2023, the oil and gas company JSC Ushkuyu paid the executive body about 8.4 million tenge as remuneration.

The company has faced financial difficulties: liabilities exceeded assets by 23.8 billion tenge, and losses amounted to 53.7 billion tenge. A revaluation of debt obligations led to a profit of 29.4 billion tenge for 2023. In January 2024, the court approved the company's rehabilitation procedure and five-year recovery plan.

Additional complications arose after the Ministry of Energy's notifying of the termination of the contract for the development of the Jetybay North-West field. The company unsuccessfully tried to challenge this decision in court. In July 2024, oil production at the field began to be stopped, and wells were mothballed.

Dariga Nazarbayeva's husband owns 23% of the company's shares. The company also owns the Jetybay North-West oil field. The company's main activity is preparing oil from its own well and from two other companies and injecting it into the main oil pipeline of JSC Kaztransoil. Last year was the most unprofitable for JSC Ushkuyu: the joint-stock company's debts exceeded its assets by 96 billion tenge.

Original Author: Artem Volkov