Steady increase of oil and gas revenues in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s EITI Reports for 2010 and 2011, released on 29 December, indicate a steady increase in revenues from oil, gas and mining.

Total revenues collected in 2011 amount to US$ 27.8 billion, up from US$ 20 bill in 2010 and US$ 12 billion in 2009. With a population of 16.5 million people, this equaled about US$ 1,700 per citizen in 2011. The vast majority of the revenue comes from oil and gas, with mining contributing 10% of reported revenue in 2011. Corporate income tax accounted for 58% of all revenues and royalties for 25%.

Tengiz and Karachaganak generate 50% of revenues

The EITI Reports disclose for the first time payments from the individual companies. They show that revenues from Tengiz, the sixth largest oil field in the world, and Karachaganak, Kazakhstan’s largest gas condensate field, together generated 50% of the revenues from oil and gas in 2011.  Tengizchevroil, the joint venture between Chevron, Exxon, LukAcro and KazMunayGaz, accounts for 37% of total revenue from oil and gas. Karachaganak, jointly operated by BG/Eni with Chevron, Lukoil and KazMunayGaz as partners, generated 13% of the revenues.  Disclosure of tax registration numbers allow for comparisons with the tax database of the Ministry of Finance, where the data is also disaggregated by revenue stream.

Social investments

In addition to paying US$ 27.8 billion in taxes, the companies have for the first time disclosed 'social expenditures' worth US$287 million. One third of these has been spent on construction of infrastructure intended to benefit the citizens living in the areas where the companies operate. Companies have contractual obligations to spend a certain percentage of their capital expenditures on social investment projects.

The 2011 EITI Report now reconciles payments and revenues from 167 oil, gas and mining companies. The threshold for reconciliation has been set at US$ 200,000 for oil and gas companies and US$ 100,000 for mining companies. The EITI Report also discloses government revenues from the 120 small oil, gas and mining companies that fell below the threshold for reconciliation. The revenues from these companies amount to an additional US$ 2.8 million.

Kazakhstan’s 2010 and 2011 EITI Reports can be downloaded here. A summary with the key figures in the reports is also available.

For further information about EITI in Kazakhstan, please visit Kazakhstan’s EITI country page.