The Ministry of Finance published a list of the 50 largest taxpayers in the country who paid the most taxes to the state budget. Thirty of these companies are in the raw materials sector, extracting oil, gas, uranium, copper, gold, chromium, and other minerals. However, most of the companies on this list are in the oil and gas industry

The oil industry is the main contributor to the state treasury. Oil sales account for more than half of all exports from the republic. The oil and gas industry is also the leader in terms of average wages. Only the financial sector surpasses the oil industry in this regard. And although the industry's revenues are heavily dependent on oil prices, which have been unstable recently, oil and gas companies continue to hold the top spot on the list of the country's largest taxpayers. At the same time, the same companies have been among the top 20 such enterprises for the last three years.

We inform our readers about the oil companies that lead in terms of tax payments to the state budget, the fields they are developing, the quantities of raw materials they extract and produce, and who owns them.

Tengiz, Karachaganak and ...

In Kazakhstan, 90 companies are engaged in oil and gas production, and a total of about 1,300 companies operate in the oil and gas industry, including oil refining and transportation, as well as oilfield services. Last year, they produced 87.7 million tons of oil and 59 billion cubic meters of raw gas, refined 17.9 million tons of oil and produced 14.5 million tons of petroleum products, and produced 3 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is becoming an increasingly popular fuel among motorists.

However, not all oil companies are major taxpayers. This is probably because many of them develop small fields and produce small amounts of hydrocarbon raw materials. Currently, about 65% of the country's oil production comes from three fields - Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak, whose operators make a significant contribution to the state treasury. And the undisputed leader in this regard, at least for the last three years, is Tengizchevroil (TSO), which paid over 3 trillion tenge or over $6.5 billion into the budget last year (at an average exchange rate of 469.44 tenge to 1 US dollar for 2024, according to data from the National Bank of Kazakhstan).

TCO is a company at the peak of its production activity. Following the completion of the Tengiz expansion projects in the middle of last year and early this year, the company can produce up to 40 million tons of oil per year, more than twice the output of the second-largest operator in Kashagan, North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC).

In 2024, Tengizchevroil produced 27.8 million tons of oil. All the oil produced was exported. The company also produced 15.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas. According to TCO, almost all the gas produced is supplied to the domestic market of Kazakhstan. In addition, the Tengiz operator produced 1.2 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas, which accounts for about 40% of all propane-butane produced in the country. The company supplied about 300,000 tons of liquefied gas to the polypropylene production plant of Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries LLP (KPI). The company supplies about 10-20% of its liquefied gas to other Kazakh commercial consumers. The rest is exported. Last year, TCO supplied over 314,000 tons of LPG to Tajikistan alone. At the same time, a total of 698,000 tons of liquefied gas was exported from the republic

In addition, the company sells sulfur, another by-product of oil production. Over the past three years, it has sold 7.8 million tons of sulfur.

Nevertheless, more than 95% of the company's revenue comes from oil sales. In 2023, the company earned a net profit of over $5.3 billion. This is less than the $8 billion earned a year earlier. However, in 2022, global energy prices were very high.

The largest participant in TCO is the American company Chevron, which controls 50% of the company's shares, 25% belongs to another US company, ExxonMobil, 25% to the national company KazMunayGas (KMG), and 5% to the Russian company Lukoil.

TCO shareholders must be satisfied with the company's performance. They invest large sums of money in the field, but they also earn a lot. Tengizchevroil operates under a stable contract that runs until 2033 and is likely to be extended. In addition to Tengiz, the company has a license to operate the Korolevskoye field, whose proven reserves are estimated at 200 million tons of oil.

The second largest oil taxpayer for at least the last three years has been Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), which is developing the Karachaganak gas condensate field. In 2024, it paid over 1.1 trillion tenge to the budget.

The company is managed by two main shareholders, Italy's Eni and Britain's Shell. They each own 29.25% of the project. Chevron owns 18% of KPO, Lukoil 13.5%, and KMG 10%.

Karachaganak is another large Kazakh oil and gas field that has been operating at a consistently high level for quite some time. Every year, the company produces at least 10 million tons of oil, all of which is exported. KPO provides the republic with 7 to 8 billion cubic meters of commercial gas, which is supplied from the Orenburg gas processing plant (GPP), where Karachaganak raw gas (8-9 billion cubic meters annually) is processed, since the operator does not have its own facilities.

The government has announced that Karachaganak's shareholders will build their own GPP at the field. According to the latest data, the new plant will be commissioned in 2029.

The enterprise has passed its peak productivity. The operator is trying to maintain production at 10-11 million tons of oil per year. It currently produces 19-20 billion cubic meters of raw gas, more than half of which is pumped back into the reservoir, with the remainder sent for processing in Orenburg. Earlier, the Ministry of Energy announced that by 2029, gas production at the field would be increased to 32.7 billion cubic meters per year to increase commercial gas production. Oil production may also increase.

Mangistau Munai Gaz rounds out the top three largest budget contributors, representing the oil and gas industry. The company was established more than 60 years ago and operates in several fields, but the main ones are Kalamkas and Zhetibay, which account for almost 90% of all remaining recoverable reserves.

The current owners of the company are KMG and China's CNPC, on a parity basis. In 2024, the company produced about 6.2 million tons of oil and 886 million cubic meters of gas. The joint-stock company's total annual revenue exceeded 871.7 billion tenge, and its net profit was 73.4 billion. However, unlike the operators of Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak, Mangistau Munai Gaz is not exempt from supplying oil to the domestic market. Otherwise, the company's revenues would probably be significantly higher, as subsoil users sell oil domestically for further processing into petroleum products at reduced prices.

The fourth place on the list is occupied by the gas transportation company Asian Gas Pipeline, a joint venture (50/50) between the national company QazaqGaz and the Chinese Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited (a subsidiary of CNPC). The company operates the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline, the Kazakh section (3,900 km) of the Central Asia-China trunk gas pipeline, through which more than 41 billion cubic meters of Turkmen, Uzbek, and Kazakh natural gas were shipped to China in 2023. In addition, the company supplied 2.7 billion cubic meters of commercial gas to the domestic market. The gas pipeline route passes through the territories of the Turkestan, Zhambyl, Almaty, and Zhetysu regions.

In 2023, the company's total revenue exceeded 852.2 billion tenge, 88% of which was received from gas transit. Net profit amounted to 537.7 billion tenge. In the same year, the company fully repaid a $4.7 billion loan received in 2012 for the construction of the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline and had no loan obligations at the end of the year.

In 2024, taxes from the Asian Gas Pipeline to the Kazakh budget amounted to 224.9 billion tenge, an increase of 34% compared to the previous year.

The Central Asia-China gas pipeline has a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. So, perhaps in the future, the company will increase its payments to the treasury even further.

NCOC, the country's second-largest oil producer, ranks fifth among the top 20 taxpayers in Kazakhstan's oil industry. The Kashagan operator has not yet announced its results for 2024. The latest sustainability report posted on the company's website dates to 2022. According to data from the Ministry of Energy and KMG, one of the project's shareholders, 17.4 million tons of oil and 11.3 billion cubic meters of gas were produced at the field last year.

NCOC began commercial production at Kashagan almost nine years ago. According to the government, the field can produce up to 75 million tons of oil per year or 1.6 million barrels per day, which is more than all the country's fields currently export. However, the project is stuck in the pilot production phase and cannot move on to full-scale development.

The consortium discovered the field in 2000 and developed it from scratch. This is one of the main differences between Kashagan and the two other giant Kazakh fields, Tengiz and Karachaganak. However, this does not seem to be the main reason for the slow progress in implementing the project. The existing infrastructure allows for production up to 20 million tons of oil per year, but this figure has not yet been achieved. There is an opinion that shareholders (except for KMG) benefit from the current level of production indicators, which, under the terms of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), allows them to take most of the company's income for themselves and not increase the state's share, which is why the amount of taxes is relatively small. In 2024, with production of 17.4 million tons, NCOC paid 210 billion tenge to the budget. Mangistau Munai-Gas, which produced 6.2 million tons of oil, transferred 304 billion tenge to the state treasury.

The Kazakh government is currently suing Kashagan's shareholders in international arbitration. According to unofficial data, the amount of the claim has reached $160 billion. The main reasons for the authorities' lawsuit were violations of tender procedures and overstatement of expenses by the operator.

NCOC shareholders: KMG - 16.88%, Eni, Shell, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies - each with 16.81%, CNPC - 8.33% and Inpex - 7.56%.

KazMunayGas and its "Family"

Today, KMG is one of Kazakhstan's largest oil companies, considering its shares in production companies and the total amount of its taxes. In 2024, the national company's total revenue exceeded $17.7 billion, and its net profit amounted to $2.3 billion. According to its annual report, its taxes and other mandatory payments to the country's budget, including joint ventures and associated companies, amounted to 1 trillion 995 billion tenge ($4.2 billion). However, if calculated separately, some of its assets contributed more payments to the treasury than the national company itself. For example, the taxes of its subsidiary Ozenmunaigas are twice as high. Emba Munai Gas has similar indicators. Both companies mainly develop old fields.

In total, eight companies in the top 20 largest oil and gas taxpayers are partially or wholly owned by the national company, not counting the operators of Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak, where KMG also has its shares. The list also includes oil refineries (ORs). Of the three large refineries, the Shymkent NPP, which is 49.72% owned by KMG and the rest controlled by CNPC, paid the most. At the same time, the Atyrau NPP, whose processing tariff is one and a half times higher than that of Shymkent, paid less. It should be noted, however, that taxes have been increasing for all three refineries over the past two years.

It is worth noting the taxes paid by private companies. The highest taxpayers in this regard are the foreign companies BG Karachaganak Limited and Agip Karachaganak, which are subsidiaries of Shell and Eni, participants in the Karachaganak project.

PSA LLP, the authorized body representing the government's interests in the PSA for Kashagan and Karachaganak, as well as other projects, paid more than 100 billion tenge.

Among the 20 largest oil and gas taxpayers in Kazakhstan is Caspian Oil JSC, owned by businessman Timur Kulibayev. The company operates the Airankol field, whose remaining recoverable reserves are estimated at 41.4 million barrels.

In 2023, the operator produced 903,500 tons of oil and 20.3 million cubic meters of gas at the field. In the same year, the company's total revenue, according to Forbes, amounted to 186.4 billion tenge. More than 70% of this amount came from exports of crude oil and petroleum products, with the rest coming from sales on the domestic market. Over the year, Caspian Oil earned 43.7 billion tenge.

Last year, the company planned to produce 866,000 tons of oil. According to data from the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the company's gross revenue as of October 1, 2024, exceeded 84.4 billion tenge, and its net profit was 21.2 billion.

At the same time, in 2024, the national gas company QazaqGaz was included in the list of the 50 largest taxpayers, paying almost 51 billion tenge to the budget. In 2023, the QazaqGaz group of companies included 13 subsidiaries and jointly controlled companies operating in the field of exploration, production, processing, transportation, and sale of gas, as well as maintenance services. The consolidated revenues of the national gas company exceeded 1.1 trillion tenge, and its net profit was 325.8 billion tenge.

A total of 21 oil and gas companies, which were among the top 50 largest contributors to the budget, brought in about 6.8 trillion tenge to the treasury in 2024. According to the Ministry of Finance, last year the state budget received a total of 21.5 trillion tenge.

Top 20 taxpayers of the oil industry 2022-2024, billion tenge

№	Companies (JSC, LLP)	2024	2023	2022
1	Tengizchevroil	3 055,9	3 746,5	4 559,4
2	Karachaganak Petroleum Operating	1 145,6	978	1 398,4
3	Mangistaumunaigas	304,5	319,6	434,9
4	Asian Gas Pipeline	224,9	167,8	166,5
5	North Caspian Operating Company	210,8	204,4	239,1
6	Ozenmunaigas	182,5	198,1	269,7
7	PetroKazakhstan Oil Products	178,8	178,3	146,1
8	Embamunaigas	167,4	145,9	159,3
9	Karazhanbasmunai	163,5	126,3	205,9
10	Atyrau Oil Refinery	154,6	152,5	112,9
11	Pavlodar Oil Chemistry Refinery	142,6	139,2	124,6
12	CNPC – Aktobemunaigas	127,9	130,1	190,2
13	BG Karachaganak Limited	114,3	95,4	127,3
14	PSA	105,4	93	78,5
15	Agip Karachaganak	105	105,7	142,6
16	KazMunayGas	85,6	119,5	98,4
17	Caspian oil	70,5	72,5	105,8
18	Chevron International Petroleum Company	65,1	69,9	80,9
19	Kazgermunai	64,4	69,5	69,9
20	Lukoil Overseas Karachaganak	51,9	50,8	55,6
Source: Ministry of Finance, Finprom

Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak field reserves, billion tons

Name	Recoverable reserves	It's open	Contract, Mr.
Tengiz	1,1	1979	1993-2033
Kashagan	2,1	2000	1997-2041
Karachaganak	1,2	1979	1995-2037

Oil production at Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak, 2020-2023 million tons

	2020	2021	2022	2023
Tengiz	26,4	26,6	29,2	28,9
Karachaganak	10,9	10,3	10,1	10,6
Kashagan	15,1	16,2	12,7	18,8
Total for three fields	52,4	53,1	52	58,3
Total in Kazakhstan	85,7	85,9	84,2	90

Source: Company reports, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Top 50 taxpayers in terms of tax payment for 2024, billion tenge

№	Companies (JSC, LLP)	2024
1	Tengizchevroil (oil)	3 055,9
2	Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (oil)	1 145,6
3	Mangistaumunaigas (oil)	304,5
4	Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan (finance)	259,1
5	Asian Gas Pipeline (Gas Transportation)	224,9
6	KAZ Minerals Aktogay (медь)	212
7	North Caspian Operating Company (нефть)	210,8
8	Ozenmunaigas (oil)	182,5
9	PetroKazakhstan Oil Products (oil refining)	178,8
10	Philip Morris, Kazakhstan (tobacco)	167,8
11	Embamunaigas (oil)	167,4
12	Karazhanbasmunai (oil)	163,5
13	JTI Kazakhstan (tobacco)	160,5
14	Atyrau Refinery (oil refining)	154,6
15	Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant (oil refining)	142,6
16	Kazakhmys Corporation (copper)	132,2
17	CNPC - Aktobemunaigas (oil)	127,9
18	Kaspi Shop (trade)	118,3
19	KAZ Minerals Bozshakol (медь)	117,5
20	BG Karachaganak Limited (oil)	114,3
21	Kazakhtelecom (communications)	114,2
22	Kaspi Bank (finance)	107,3
23	PSA (Oil)	105,4
24	Agip Karachaganak (oil)	105
25	Altyntau Kokshetau (ДК) (золото)	96,5
26	Karatau (uranium)	93,9
27	Qazaqstan temir joly (transportation)	93,9
28	Inkai (uranium)	91,1
29	KazMunayGas (oil)	85,6
30	Southern Mining and Chemical Company (uranium)	80,8
31	Bank CenterCredit (finance)	77,7
32	KaR-Tel (communication)	71
33	Caspian Oil (Oil)	70,5
34	Chevron International Petroleum Company (oil)	65,1
35	Green Development (Uilsbor)	64,9
36	Toyota Motor Kazakhstan (car sale)	64,6
37	Kazgermunai (oil)	64,4
38	Akbastau (uranium)	63,9
39	Samruk-Kazyna (investment holding)	60,7
40	Bakyrchik Mining Enterprise (gold)	59,7
41	Senimdi Kurylys (construction)	57,9
42	RG Gold	56,7
43	Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (finance)	53,7
44	Khorasan-U (uranium)	53,5
45	Katko (uranium)	52
46	Lukoil Overseas Karachaganak (oil)	51,9
47	Kazakhs (газ)	51
48	Center (uranium	50,3
49	KEGOC (Electricity Transmission)	49,2
50	Kazchrome (chromium and other metals)	46,8
Source: Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan