The Week in Kazakhstan: Look Who’s Back

On April 1, Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said that the US government would continue allowing Russian oil to be transported to China through Kazakhstan unsanctioned for at least another year. Kazakhstan’s 10 million-ton oil pipeline to China has been almost exclusively used to transport Russian oil since Astana and Moscow signed an agreement to that effect in 2014.

After a years-long absence, British oil major BP will return to Kazakhstan following an agreement with state-owned Kazmunaigas to survey a new field in the country, Kazmunaigas reported on April 2. Under the deal, BP will conduct exploration in the Ustyurt Plateau in Kazakhstan’s western Mangistau region, which lies in close proximity to oil and gas basins recently discovered in Uzbekistan. The agreement marks BP’s first business in Kazakhstan since it pulled out of a joint exploration project in 2021, having sold all other assets in the country in 2009.

Trade minister Arman Shakkaliyev confirmed on April 2 that China’s Fujian Hengwang Investment is considering financing the construction of a $1.2 billion steel plant in a special economic zone in Kazakhstan’s southern Zhambyl region. The plant, which will reportedly start operations in 2027 and reach full capacity by 2029, has been under discussion since 2024.

Users of all banks will be able to use other banks’ QR payment systems in Kazakhstan by the end of the month, Central Bank head Timur Suleimenov said on April 1. Smaller banks have long advocated the creation of a single national payment system to allow consumers to make purchases without using their own bank’s POS terminal.

Airan, a self-described independent media project launched in 2022, officially halted operations after it became no longer possible for its team “to make it work”, editor-in-chief Dauren Merkeyev announced on March 30. Airan had published more than 11,000 videos and garnered 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube, its primary platform, prior to its final broadcast on March 13, two weeks before Merkeyev’s announcement.

A Demoscope survey published on March 31 has found that 56% of people in Kazakhstan rely on social media as their primary source of information, while 76.5% consume information in Kazakh and 57.4% consider state media to be relatively reliable sources of information. At a World Factchecking Day event on April 2 organized by the Delegation of the European Union in Kazakhstan, experts reported that social media and state media are among the primary sources of disinformation in the country.

Researchers with Almaty Air Initiative have found significant discrepancies between independently-sourced data and a recent air pollution report released by Kazhydromet, Kazakhstan’s air, temperature, and weather monitoring public agency. According to data from the AAI published on March 31, air pollution worsened in Almaty last year — contrary to improvements reported by Kazhydromet. Scientists and researchers in Kazakhstan regularly disagree with data published by national body.

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