Kazakhstan, Astana, Nov. 30 / Trend K. Konyrova /
Kazakhstan has refused to accept the practice of terminating contracts with unfair mining companies and has replaced the measure with fines, secretary of the Kazakh Ministry of oil and gas KanatbekSafinov told the media today.
"We have abandoned the practice of terminating the contracts with mining companies," he said. "If their obligations are not fulfilled to increase the local methods, we use such economic actions as collecting fines according to the new law."
He said that the matter rests in contractual penalties. The amount will depend on the conditions of the contract. "The termination of the contract will be used as a last measure, as in this case people will lose their jobs," he said.
He said that the oil ministry's task now is to monitor the contracts and to urge mining companies to fulfil their obligations.
"We sent 135 notifications to mining companies about their violations for the first nine months of this year," he said. "If the situation doesn't improve, we will use the termination of the contract as a last measure, but many companies have begun removing these shortfalls."
Last year, the Kazakh oil ministry unilaterally terminated 28 contracts for subsoil use.