BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 12. A joint venture between Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG) and Croatia’s Geoenergija Razvoj d.o.o. has been registered to operate the Shygys geological exploration project in Kazakhstan’s Aktobe region.
This was reflected in the statement published by KMG.
The new company, Shygys Operating LLP, will serve as the operator for geological exploration activities at the Shygys subsoil site. The joint venture was established by KMG and Geoenergija Razvoj d.o.o., a subsidiary of the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency (CHA).
"The new company is the operator of geological exploration at the Shygys subsoil site in the Aktobe region. As a reminder, the minimum work program for this project includes 500 linear kilometers of 2D seismic surveys and drilling a 3,500-meter-deep exploratory well," the statement of KMG says.
Nurlan Konysov has been appointed General Director of Shygys Operating LLP by the decision of the company’s participants’ general meeting. Konysov has a degree in oil and gas geology and extensive experience in the KazMunayGas system. He began his career as an assistant driller at Oil Services Company LLP. From 2015 to 2023, he headed KMG’s Geology and Exploration Department. He has also held positions at RD KazMunayGas JSC, Karaton Operating Ltd, Kalamkas — Khazar Operating and Project Institute Optimum LLP.
Diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Croatia were established on 20 October 1992. In recent years the two countries have expanded cooperation in the energy sector, including a memorandum of understanding between KazMunayGas and Croatia’s JANAF on oil transportation and storage, as well as growing bilateral trade. The Shygys project in the Aktobe region marks Croatia’s first entry into Kazakhstan’s upstream hydrocarbon exploration. The joint venture operates on a 50/50 basis, with the Croatian side (through Geoenergija Razvoj d.o.o., a subsidiary of the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency) fully financing the exploration phase.
