Buzachi Operating: KZT 8.4 billion for gas losses and unauthorised flaring (Mangystau, 2025)
Courts ordered Buzachi Operating Ltd, the operator of the North Buzachi field, to pay KZT 8.4 billion to the state for six years of oil and gas losses and flaring of raw gas without permission; the sum was paid in full in March 2025. In May 2026 the company was fined KZT 474 million for exceeding the hazardous-waste accumulation limit by 513.2 tonnes during drilling.
BES.media compared it with KZT 8.5bn in taxes the company paid to the state budget in 2019–2024.
Status As of May 2026: the KZT 8.4 billion compensation was paid in full in March 2025; Buzachi Operating was fined KZT 474 million for hazardous drilling waste above the accumulation limit.
- Kazakh state — KZT 8.4 billion in compensation (March 2025) and a KZT 474 million fine (2026) Kapital.kz
- Buzachi Operating (CNPC 50%, Sinopec 50%) — Paid KZT 8.4 billion; fined KZT 474 million BES.media
- Drilling sites of a Buzachi Operating branch — Hazardous drilling waste 513.2 tonnes above the accumulation limit (2026) Bizmedia.kz
What happened
A comprehensive inspection by the Mangystau Region Prosecutor's Office found that over six years Buzachi Operating Ltd conducted subsoil operations at the Severnye (North) Buzachi field with oil and gas losses and flared raw gas without the permission of the authorised hydrocarbon body. First-instance and appellate courts ordered compensation of KZT 8.4 billion; the decisions entered into legal force and the company paid in full in early March 2025, as announced on 17 March 2025. The courts are not named and gas volumes are not stated. BES.media compared the sum with taxes of KZT 8.5 billion the company paid to the state budget in 2019–2024.
In May 2026 the company was fined KZT 474 million under article 328 part 6 of the Code of Administrative Offences, on a prosecutor's act, because a branch exceeded the hazardous-waste accumulation limit by 513.2 tonnes during drilling.
Buzachi Operating is owned 50% by CNPC and 50% by Sinopec. Kapital.kz noted that the KZT 8.4 billion case is separate from the KZT 14 billion that the Ministry of Energy said was collected nationwide in the first nine months of 2025 for irrational use of oil and gas, together with 80 administrative fines totalling KZT 110 million and KZT 2.4 billion in pending damages; companies were not named.
- 2019Start of the six-year period covered by the prosecutor's inspection (2019–2024)
- 2025Compensation of KZT 8.4bn paid in full (early Mar); announced (17 Mar)
- 2026Fine of KZT 474m for exceeding the hazardous-waste accumulation limit by 513.2 t (May)
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Over six years the company conducted subsoil operations with oil and gas losses and flared raw gas without the permission of the authorised hydrocarbon body.
Kapital.kzNo public response on record.
How it looked
Shown
- Headline: the company “paid 8.4 bn tenge for violations of environmental norms”.Kapital.kz, 17 March 2025 · Kapital.kz
- Headline: the company was “fined 8.4 bn tenge – about as much as the taxes it paid over the last six years”.BES.media, 17 March 2025 · BES.media
Recorded
- Compensation of KZT 8.4 billion ordered by courts (first instance, upheld on appeal) and paid in full in early March 2025.
- Taxes paid to the state budget in 2019–2024: KZT 8.5 billion (BES.media comparison).
- Administrative fine of KZT 474 million under article 328 part 6 of the Code of Administrative Offences, on a prosecutor's act, May 2026; hazardous-waste accumulation limit exceeded by 513.2 tonnes during drilling.
- National figures from the Ministry of Energy for the first nine months of 2025: over KZT 14 billion in damages collected for irrational use of oil and gas, 80 administrative fines totalling KZT 110 million, KZT 2.4 billion in pending damages.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2025Claimant wonKZT 8.4bn compensation, paid in full in early March 2025Mangystau Prosecutor's Office v. Buzachi Operating (oil and gas losses and flaring, 2019–2024)First-instance and appellate courts (names not given) · Civil · Mangystau Region Prosecutor's Office (for the state) → Buzachi Operating Ltd
The first-instance court ordered compensation, the appellate court upheld it, and the decisions entered into legal force. Kapital.kz
- 2026Claimant wonKZT 474m fine under article 328 part 6Administrative fine for exceeding the hazardous-waste accumulation limitCourt not named · Administrative · Prosecutor's office (act) → Buzachi Operating Ltd
A branch exceeded the hazardous-waste accumulation limit by 513.2 tonnes during drilling; fine reported in May 2026. Bizmedia.kz
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Money
- None on record Remediation or restoration funded by the compensation — None on record.
Accounts
- Disputed Company account of the 2025 compensation and the 2026 fine
- None on record Buzachi Operating: No public response on record.
Record
- Not disclosed Not disclosed: the volumes of oil and gas lost or flared, and the names of the first-instance and appellate courts.
- None on record None on record: a public statement by the company on the 2025 compensation or the 2026 fine.
- Disputed Unclear: the relationship between Buzachi Operating (North Buzachi) and Buzachi Neft (Karaturun), which the coverage treats as different companies; Kapital.kz says its article does not explain how they relate.
- None on record None on record: insurance cover or payments.
Did the harm stop?
None on record.
Who paid?
Buzachi Operating paid KZT 8.4 billion to the state in early March 2025. Use of the money for nature is not on record.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Buzachi Operating Ltd paid 8.4 bn tenge for violations of environmental norms (in Russian)Kapital.kz · 2025-03-17
- Buzachi Operating in Mangystau fined almost half a billion tenge (in Russian)Bizmedia.kz · 2026-05-20
Connected cases
- Mangistaumunaigas fines for wastewater injection, drilling waste and furnace emissions (Mangystau, 2024) Kazakhstan · 2024–2025 Related matter
- China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) (Company) — here: 50% owner; there: 50% owner
- Mangystau Region Prosecutor's Office (Public authority) — here: Inspection and claim; act behind the 2026 fine; there: Brought the fines; announced them on 13 January 2025
- Embamunaigas sour-gas flaring at the Prorva fields (Atyrau, 2014 and 2018) Kazakhstan · 2013–2018 Related matter
- Karaturun well blowout and methane release (Mangystau, 2023) Kazakhstan · 2023–2025 Related matter
- Kashagan gas flaring: KZT 134.2 billion damage order (2014) and KZT 3.6 billion award (2025) Kazakhstan · 2013–2025 Related matter
- Hoor al-Azim wetland, oil-field development and dikes in Khuzestan Iran · 2007–2026
- China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) (Company) — here: 50% owner; there: South Azadegan contractor (US$2.5 billion)
- Sinopec (Company) — here: 50% owner; there: Yadavaran contractor (about US$2 billion)