Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice imposed a freeze on property and transport assets owned by the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), which is developing one of the country’s largest oil fields, over failure to pay a massive environmental fine.
The decision followed a back-and-forth between the government and NCOC, a collection of international oil companies drilling for oil at Kashagan, an offshore field in the Caspian Sea.
The July 21 decision was disclosed only three days later, and it remains unclear exactly what kind of property or transport assets were affected.
Also on July 21, according to Reuters sources, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice told NCOC’s managing director Giancarlo Ruiu that he would be held responsible for “administrative and criminal liability for non-compliance.”
In 2023, a local court imposed a 2.3 trillion tenge ($4.9 billion) fine for improper sulfur storage on the consortium.
